Category: Theology

Categories
Theology

1 Chronicles 29.11 – Jonathan’s memory verse

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.

This was my son Jonathan’s Sunday School memory verse this week. When I saw it in the email from his teacher, I thought, “That’s a great verse, I need to memorize that!”

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness…

There is no greatness that anyone can lay claim to that is not ultimately from God himself. God is not only great, all greatness is his. We are used to saying, “God is greater than…” and so he is, but we can say even more. All the greatness that any president or king or leader or any famous person can lay claim to, if it is a true greatness, belongs to God.

There is a greatness in our world today that is not great at all. It may be notoriety or celebrity or fame, but it is not true greatness (I won’t waste your time with examples). And yet there is a true greatness–that which is noble and pure and good. The greatness of Einstein’s mind was a gracious demonstration in a small degree of the intellectual power of God. The greatness of athletic achievement is a gracious demonstration in a small degree of the strength and power of God. The greatness of great acts of love, or faithfulness, or service, while they may be performed by human beings under God’s gracious influence, ultimately belongs to God. The apostle Paul’s greatness belongs to God. Hudson’s Taylor’s greatness belongs to God. Any greatness you may feel that you can lay claim to is God’s. Yours is the greatness, O Lord!

…and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty…

Now apply the same principle to each of these. There is no power except that which is God’s. Any worthwhile accomplishment, any work of service, any obstacle overcome, any foe defeated, all is owing ultimately to the power that belongs to God and God alone. Even the exercise of power for evil is God’s. There is no power that can be exercised for evil apart from God’s sovereign control of all things.

To God belongs all glory. The glory of creation is God’s. The glory of human accomplishment is God’s. The glory of nations and empires is God’s. The glory of angelic beings is his. At the end of all things, if there is anyone who can stand and display any glory of any sort, it will be only God’s glory, displayed as a tribute to him, bestowed by him, that he might be all in all.

There is no victory except that which is God’s. Any sin conquered, he gets the credit for. Any obstacle overcome, any race won, any superiority demonstrated, it belongs to God. His is the victory.

His alone is the majesty. The greatest kings and queens of human history have displayed only a derived majesty, given by God for a time. The majesty of the highest mountains is God’s. The majesty of distant galaxies that dwarf our entire solar system is a dim reflection of the glory of the One who called them all into being with a word.

…for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours…

Why is all the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty God’s and God’s alone? Because he is the Creator and owner of all. Look around you; everything you see is his. Everything you own belongs to God. Everything to the furthest horizons of your vision as you look up, down and all around you is God’s. Anything that you can imagine is God’s.

And God doesn’t just own all of this just to let it sit around useless in his backyard like all that junk in your storage shed out back. He has a purpose and plan for every vessel in his creation. There is nothing that is meaningless. He will use it all for his glory.

Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

A kingdom is a place, but it is also a sphere of influence, a “dominion” or that which is dominated and controlled. Ultimately there is only one kingdom and it is God’s. He alone has a say. His decisions are the only ones that are final. He alone can truly be called the Head, and he is above all. He reigns supreme over every power, every purpose, every person, every particle of matter. There is nothing that is outside his active sphere of influence.

He is all in all.

And he has walked among us, in the person of the divine Son, Jesus the Anointed One from Nazareth–the only human being who has ever lived who can lay claim to the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty that is God’s alone. Jesus, the Lamb of God who was slain.

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:11-14)

Amen! I fall on my face in worship of you, Lord Jesus!

Categories
Theology

Exodus 14 The glory of God in our tough spots

“Who has known the mind of the Lord…?” Paul asks in Romans 11. It is true that “God’s ways are not our ways” and his “paths are inscrutable.” But this doesn’t prevent us from recognizing what God has clearly revealed to us in holy history regarding what is behind the sometimes baffling circumstances that we run up against.

Those of you who know me personally know that my family is in the midst of just such a baffling circumstance which I can’t describe in detail in such a public place as the world wide web. I was very encouraged recently by the reminder in Exodus 14 that the tough spots God often allows us to find ourselves in are opportunities for his glory to be revealed.

In Exodus 14, the Israelites are escaping from their long slavery in Egypt. God had Moses lead them straight to the Red Sea.

Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.

The Israelites, just like us many times, failed to see how God would get glory from them being pinned between the hosts of Egypt and the Red Sea. In spite of God’s word that the manifestation of his glory was the purpose of their being in such a tough spot, they complain to Moses…

10 “….Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Here is the principle I want to draw out: We have a tendency to make our personal comfort our ultimate goal. We want God to order our circumstances in ways that make sense to us. God’s glory is not something we value enough to be willing to go through tough times so that it can be displayed in our lives. But over and over in Scripture, just as we see here in Exodus 14, God’s goal is the manifestation of his glory. God is glorified when he displays his strength and his wisdom and his sufficiency in getting us through the tough spots that he often puts us in.

Even though we know this principle, we often act just like the Israelites here. Our faith is weak that God will work in a way that magnifies his glory, and we slip into the same kind of questioning that we hear from them: “Why God? What good can come out of this? I just don’t see the point of having to go through such a trial?”

Notice that God doesn’t answer their complaining questions. Moses simply says,

“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

That is how we should respond in tough spots as well. “Fear not.” Don’t give in to the sinful tendency to worry and anxiety and fear. When such feelings assault you, commit them to the Lord and resolve to trust him in spite of your feelings.

“Stand firm.” Continue to make choices and live your life in a way that shows your faith and your confidence are in God. The Israelites could have bolted. They could have looked for some kind of escape route. And had they done that, they would have been robbed of the opportunity to see what has to be on God’s top ten list of the most glorious miracles of all time.

“See the salvation of the Lord.” Believe that in and through all your circumstances, tough spots included, God is working out an eternal salvation for you. This salvation is one that is 100% by his strength and initiative and 0% yours. Even if you fail to see how a particular tough spot fits into that salvation, believe that it does and that one day you will “see” it so, even if only in eternity.

Categories
Bible Study Theology

Genesis 32:22-32 What does it mean to “wrestle with God”

The following post is a letter I wrote to a friend a couple of years ago. This is actually a re-post, but I am currently reading Genesis in my devotional time and wanted to share these insights with some who may not have read them when I initially posted them…

Dear Allan,

I’ve been meditating much this week on Genesis 32 and Jacob’s wrestling with God. This is a fascinating passage with so much that I don’t understand in it. Two days in a row last week I sat with V after our devotional times and discussed this story at length. I won’t try to reproduce the whole conversation, or the development of my thinking on the passage, but let me share some of my conclusions since they relate very closely to this subject of waiting on God that we have been corresponding about.


Is this story about prayer

First of all, I have read many different commentators on this passage and all of them use as a starting point that the passage is primarily to teach us something about prayer. While I think the story has some implications for prayer, I don’t think it is primarily about prayer but about Jacob’s relationship with God. I also spent a good deal of time comparing the passage to Hosea 12:2-6 which mentions this event in the context of the nation of Judah.

The context of the story is definitely that Jacob had a need (Esau’s impending attack) and that he had prayed to God for deliverance (vs. 9-12). I don’t think there is any doubt that Esau was coming with the 400 men with the intention of destroying Jacob and his family. SOMETHING happened, though, to completely turn Esau’s attitude around, so that he was favorably disposed to Jacob when he met him. Those of the “prevailing prayer” school would say that Jacob “prevailed” in prayer with God and received the asked for deliverance. According to this line of thinking, Jacob’s wrestling with the angel was a vivid symbol of his perseverance in the prayer that is recorded in vs. 9-12.

(The strongest Biblical support for this idea of prevailing prayer I think comes not from this passage, but from Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18. Other passages might include Moses’ intercession for Israel that moved God to relent from destroying them.)

One of the problems with this interpretation however is simply that Jacob was not praying but wrestling! He appears to not even know that the man is a possible source of blessing until the morning hour when his hip is touched and he then asks for the blessing. So to say that he was wrestling to “get something” just doesn’t fit.


Could this story be about brokenness before God?

Another interesting point is that it does not say that Jacob wrestled with the man, but that “a man wrestled with him.” I picture the angel as being the one who initiated the encounter. (although grammatically, that interpretation is not required, I think it will bear out as I continue).

When the angel puts Jacob’s hip out, it is apparent that he is the stronger of the two and could have easily won the encounter at any point. When he puts out the hip, it is God’s way of showing Jacob that he is not strong enough to win. The angel is bringing Jacob to a place of brokenness. What is to be made then of the observation that “…the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob…” I think the angel is God’s representative bringing Jacob to a place of brokenness, and this phrase does NOT mean that the angel had been trying desperately to win, but couldn’t. RATHER the phrase is pointing out that this is the reason for dislocating the hip: Jacob’s stubborn refusal to quit, and his determination to keep on in his own strength.

Jacob’s whole life story to this point is one of wily deception in an attempt to make things work out in his favor, by his own strength. He had constantly sought to manipulate events. (for example, the stew for Esau, deception of Isaac, getting Laban’s flocks by the striped branches, and now the gifts for Esau). His whole life had been a “wrestling in his own strength.” God was now bringing him to a point of seeing that he was unable to win, and was about to be destroyed by Esau.

When Jacob’s hip is put out, he realizes his combatant’s superior strength and appeals to him for a blessing. He, as the weaker, asks the stronger for help. It isn’t clear if he was specifically asking the man to intervene in the Esau affair–probably he wasn’t, he just knew that he needed this man’s blessing.

At this point, the story is really strange because the hip incident surely showed that Jacob was powerless to detain the angel, and yet the man clearly acts as though Jacob IS detaining him further when he asks to be let go. What an amazing picture of our depending on God in faith, when it is really HE who is holding on to US. This is the point of the story where it comes closest to the persistent widow principle.

When the angel changes Jacob’s name, he names him, “strives with God.” It is interesting that this is seen as a positive thing. He has gone from being the “deceiver” to being the one who “strives with God.” His “prevailing” is also positive. I researched this word and there isn’t much mystery to it. It just means “to win”. Jacob wins! But HOW does he win? How does he prevail? Is it by forcing God’s hand and getting the blessing through his own perseverance? He wins by being broken.

Notice that in v. 30. Jacob does NOT name the place, “I have striven with God and won”, but rather, Peniel, or “face of God.” Jacob doesn’t bask in his victory, he marvels that he has seen God and continues alive. He is recognizing that the man had been God’s angel and that the man could have killed him. He has received grace, and he knows it.

When Esau arrives and is favorably disposed, I think Jacob knew that it was not because of his gifts, but because of the blessing he had received from the angel. The next chapter concludes with Jacob building an altar that is called El-Elohe ISRAEL, (his new name).

Hosea 12, a parallel passage

Going to Hosea 12, I find further support for this interpretation of the event.

The Lord has an indictment against Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
he will repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
and in his manhood he strove with God.
4 He strove with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.
He met God at Bethel,
and there God spoke with us—
5 the Lord, the God of hosts,
the Lord is his memorial name:
6 “So you, by the help of your God, return,
hold fast to love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.”

V. 2 starts out by pointing out Jacob’s sin. This can refer to the sin of the nation, or to the sin of the man (Jacob) who represents the nation. I don’t think the following verses are a description of this sin. The sin has been described previously to v. 2. Vs. 3-6 now explain to Israel, the nation, how they should act in view of the indictment that the Lord has against them and his promised punishment. Jacob’s life is an example to them of what they should do.

Verse 3 shows the contrast between the person that Jacob was from his birth (a deceiver who “grasps the heel”), and the person he was after being re-named by God (“in his manhood he strove with God”). Verse 4 describes the striving with God and is crucial to understanding Genesis 32. “He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor.” Jacob’s “striving” was a weeping and seeking of God’s favor. This phrase captures so perfectly the brokenness of Jacob. He is weeping. He sees his need. He calls out to God for grace (favor).

Moving on in v. 4, it mentions God speaking at Bethel. If you look at this event in Gen. 35:9-10, you see that it also refers to the name change from Jacob to Israel. So this phrase is re-emphasizing Jacob’s victory in his striving. In v. 6 the application is drawn to the nation: “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” The application of Jacob’s example is for them to OBEY the Lord (hold fast to love and justice) and to wait. V. pointed out to me the great contrast there is here between “waiting” and “struggling”. The nation is not to struggle as Jacob struggled, but to be broken as Jacob was broken, manifesting this brokenness in obedience and humbly waiting upon God, looking to him for his blessing.


Summarizing

Here is the great irony of this event: Jacob “won” by being beaten. I see Jacob’s “prevailing” as analogous to Abraham’s faith. His name, Israel, memorializes his holding on to the angel and asking for a blessing, and yet the whole story shows that the blessing would have never come had God left Jacob to continue on as he had been going. He would have vainly tried to assuage Esau’s rage with the gifts and then been decimated by him. God in his grace encountered Jacob, wrestled him to a place of seeing his weakness and asking for a blessing that he probably didn’t even fully understand what it would be.

So, can we just decide to wrestle with God in prayer about something? I don’t think so. But there are moments where God in his grace comes to us and humbles us so that he may bless us. The active part that we play in these encounters is revealed by Hosea 12. When we go to the Word and the Spirit shows us our sinfulness and our justly deserved judgment, we ask him for grace (v. 4–weep and seek his favor), repent (v. 6–“return, hold fast to love and justice”) and then “wait continually for him” (v. 6).

If we are faced with a great need to pray for, could it be that we would even pray all night, not as an attempt to get something from God, but recognizing at the outset that we are seeking to say to God by our extended praying that we are waiting upon him? We can say to him, “Lord, we are broken, we know we can’t meet this need through our own strength, nor can we earn anything from you by praying all night, but we are humbly seeking your favor. Break us further if there is any continuing self-reliance. We look to you for a blessing that we may not even fully understand.”

I can’t remember a time that I prayed all night for something, and my discipline in fasting is lacking also. I offer this interpretation humbly, recognizing that there are many in the “prevailing prayer” school who may have so much to teach me about waiting upon God. May the Lord give me wisdom to apply these insights to my own life.

Bryan