Finding your Spiritual Address - 2

Finding your Spiritual Address - 2

Have you ever seen one of those movies – where – They start the movie almost to the climax, and the main character is about to gain an achievement and they jump right into the movie right there – and then jump back to see how they got there.

We will be looking at the life of Jacob today – a famous story – often over-used – but probably one of my favorite Old Testament stories. I’ve learned some things about this recently, and I’ve had some insight into this recently from Sinclair Ferguson – let’s read from Gen 32:24

24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28 And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." 29 Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for [he said,] "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved."

There is a lot there – what is really going on? Who is the angel? But those are things we won’t answer today – but the most important thing about this passage – is the obvious. In its simplest terms: Jacob did not get it until he limped. In discovering our spiritual address – until we get to the point that we are broken – Like Jacob didn’t understand what God had for him until God dislocated his hip. Often, God does not completely get our hearts until at some point, he dislocates something in our lives.

We often can’t get to where He wants us until He is able to break us. This is a significant point in Jacob’s life. He has been going a long time – and this is the beginning of a turning point for him. Now, I want to go back, briefly, to see how Jacob got there. Jacob is wrestling with the angel – how did he get there? It starts with his birth – as all of our stories do – but these two were wrestling in the womb. The mother was concerned – so much to the point that God visited her. Look, Rebekah – there is something happening – the younger is going to be the one to take charge – the older will serve the younger. That is so against Jewish tradition. In Jewish tradition, the oldest is always the leader. When Esau was born – Jacob was holding on to his heel – Jacob means – “One who grasps the heel” – supplanter – schemer – conniver – someone who is a little twisted. He has a name that sets him up for life. In one sense, to almost fail in life.

Jacob came from the most dysfunctional family – the dad pretty much has nothing to do with Jacob – so the mother spoils him rotten. He has the father wound – and the over involved mother-wound. And he comes out a wounded individual. We all have wounds – things in the background of our life that so affect and hurt us – wounds that come from many directions. For most of us, we can go right to this. You can point to it. Those wounds influence the way you behave in relationship and circumstance and how you look at life and approach life. That is what happened with Jacob. These wounds he experienced influenced the way he acted and viewed relationships and went about life.

There is a difference between being wounded and being broken, like we see in Chapter 32. Jacob spent most of his life operating out of those wounds. In Chapter 32, he learned to operate out of the brokenness created in him by God. We all have wounds – but we need to learn not to operate out of them. They will always be there, but there is a way to take those things that hurt us and to bring them to God in such a way that God can use them in a positive way.

Jacob grows up – and his mom had told him how his older brother is going to serve him – and Esau comes in from hunting and is starving – and Jacob sells him some stew for his birthright. Esau had his own issues – and he gives it to him!

Then, years later, when his father is dying, he steals the blessing of his father – puts fur on, because Esau was hairy – and Jacob was probably hairless and got made fun of in the locker room…And the poor dad – blind – gives the blessing to the wrong son.

Jacob has to leave his family in fear – he steals the birthright and then the blessing – and Esau was mad – and he was a hunter, so he had all the weapons! Esau has a temper, so his mom tells Jacob to get out of there. He has to leave his home in fear and go to a foreign land. When Jacob left – he took himself with him. We always do that, don’t we? Our tendency is to think, if I get out of this circumstance – away from these other people – but Jacob took Jacob – and goes to his uncle’s house – Jacob sees what he wants – he wants the second born – and what happens? The one who cheats gets cheated – He wakes up after the honeymoon – and it is not Rachel – it is Leah.

When we operate in life with a lot of wounds, we tend to spend a lot of time with other wounded people. Wounded people attract wounded people. Jacob prospers – partly because he is scheming and knows how to succeed – he is an entrepreneur – outwardly, he gets what he wants. We would look at him and say – he has it all together – but inwardly he is a wreck – his life is in turmoil. You cannot tell outwardly if someone is operating out of a hurt. We tend to think of wounded people as those who can’t get out of bed – but oftentimes, it is the one who is succeeding – pushing – and pushing – and pushing – and they do that to fill the holes left by their past.

Turn to Gen. 31:13 –

This sets Jacob up –

13 'I am the God [of] Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.' "

God takes the initiative – Jacob is probably 40 by this time – and we think, if it doesn’t start when we are younger that we have lost it. But we see with those in the Bible, it can start at any age. You can begin to operate out of your spiritual address at any point in life. That is one of the neat things with God – it is never too late! Until you are no longer on this planet – but if you have one day left, it is not too late for God to accomplish in you what He longs to do. God speaks to Jacob and tells him what to do.

14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house? 15 “Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price. 16 "Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you."

God begins to work in Jacob’s life, but he confirms it by working in the lives of those around him. When God goes to work in a person’s life – it is seen around him in other people. Often, God waits – until people get to the point where it is just…and then He begins to act. We are often not ready for God’s complete work until we get to a certain point. God is getting Jacob’s family ready.

God tells Jacob to leave – and he is heading back to the land where it all started – going home – to his spiritual address – the land of Canaan.

Gen.

32:1 Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. 2 And Jacob said when he saw them, "This is God's camp." So he named that place Mahanaim.

It is after Jacob turns that God begins to meet with Jacob to accomplish His work.

3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 He also commanded them saying, "Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: 'Thus says your servant Jacob, "I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; 5 and I have oxen and donkeys [and] flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight."'

Remember, from the very beginning, the younger shall serve the older? This was Jacob’s goal in life – everything he did was to bring about that for himself. What does Jacob do? He reaches a point where he flips it – he calls himself Esau’s servant – seeking reconciliation in a right and proper way. Part of our brokenness needs to be the willingness to be reconciled with those who have had a hand in the wounds and the mess that our lives have become.

“6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him." 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed;

Jacob is starting to do everything right – but things don’t fall into place immediately. So often, we hear people tell their story – and it seems like they were doing terribly, and then they made a right decision and everything turned out okay. But that is not how it always works, is it? Sometimes we try to make things right and others don’t want to. Sometimes relationships are restored, but not always.

and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies;

He is going back to Jacob the Wounded. It doesn’t happen overnight – it is a process – moving forward and understanding the life that God has called us to – steps forward and backwards – it is the reality of how it works in our lives. Jacob was afraid – he left because he was afraid – and now he is afraid of his brother’s army.

I love this quote: “God does not enable us to deal with our fear by removing all things in our life that cause us to be afraid, but by giving us a bigger reason NOT to fear than we have to fear”

God doesn’t take those issues away, but gives us a bigger reason not to be afraid. Look, even though all these things are going on – here is a bigger reason you don’t need to be afraid – God. He loves us and has our best in mind.

8 for he said, "If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape." 9 And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who didst say to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the loving-kindness and of all the faithfulness which Thou hast shown to Thy servant; for with my staff [only] I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.

Here is where we begin to see that Jacob is on the road to recovery. His whole life he was focusing on getting stuff in life – and now he is interested in serving Esau – and recognizing that he didn’t get it on his own – but recognizing that God is gracious. The longest prayer in the book of Genesis is here – so we know God is working in this man’s heart. Jacob had been on the run his whole life – but now he is crying out to God.

11 “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 “For Thou didst say, 'I will surely prosper you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'"

13 So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 And he delivered [them] into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass on before me, and put a space between droves."

He wants to pay off his brother – buy off his guilt – he is still living in the past – living out of that wound. The problem is that so many of us stop here and never go past this – past the wounds in our lives – and never find that purpose, that address that God wants us to work for.

22 Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 And he took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone,

This was a man who was too busy to be simply left alone – his thoughts, his past, his wounds, his accomplishments – for all of that, to be stripped away – to be alone – and examined by God. We avoid that. It is so hard to examine ourselves. We just crank out the activities and entertainment so that we don’t have to figure out where we are and where we are going. That is where brokenness happens – where you discover your spiritual address.

and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."

I think what is happening here – the angel is asking what is your name? One who grabs the heel – trickster – conniver – and the reality – the weight of who he is is entering in – and he has himself in the circumstance he is in because of who he is – because of his character. When life starts bowling us over, we need to be able to take the time to get alone and reveal to us who we are. That is the last thing we do when we see a problem in life – we need to step back and examine. We all have these wounds – and we tend to operate out of them. I do. You do. That is what it means to be human and to be fallen – but we need to let God examine us – and to be open to that examination.

28 And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."

And the story goes on. Brokenness is a work of God. It is something we cannot create. God had to touch Jacob in his strength – in his core – it is what holds us up – what we rely on – God breaks that which Jacob is relying on in life. That strength – that characteristic – our wit, our good-looks, our charm – sometimes He has to come in and break that in life. And we see a different Jacob – one going from wrestling to clinging – holding on for dear life. Jacob had gained many blessings – but he never had gained God’s blessing. He had stolen his father’s blessing – the wives he wanted – the flocks he wanted – but never had he received the blessing that really mattered – the one from God. He stole his father’s blessing, but had never really been blessed. He told the angel – I will not let go until you bless me. It was finally the thing that he really wanted.

Many believe that Jacob limped the rest of his life. It was so significant that the Israelites no longer ate that part of the cow. In Christianity, we don’t like limpers, do we? It is okay to be hurt and broken in the church, but we don’t like when people limp. But it requires a limp – which will be different for all of us – to discover what God has for us.

29 Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for [he said,] "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." 31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. 32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.

33:1 Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. 2 And he put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4 Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" So he said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." 6 Then the maids came near with their children, and they bowed down. 7 And Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down. 8 And he said, "What do you mean by all this company which I have met?" And he said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord.”

What a different picture this is – Jacob dragging his leg and throwing himself on the ground before his brother – There are many other things in Jacob’s life we read about, but God brings him back – It didn’t happen until he was broken and limping.

Let’s pray:

Lord, thank You that You know our weakness, our issues, every one of them. Lord, we just want to ask You – we have all been wounded – we need to learn how to turn those wounds – to move those wounds to the cross – that we might be broken. That is the only answer – the cross – help us to take them there and leave them there – to live from the cross, not from our past.