God wrestles with the believer's self-sufficiency Part 2Pastor/Teacher God wrestles with the believer's self-sufficiency Part 2We need to ask the Lord to show us what the “socket of our thigh” is - the obstacle that gets in the way of a deeper relationship with Him. This seemed to be a defeat for Jacob, but it was not. At times it appears to the world that we have been defeated, when in reality we have been promoted. The Lord desired to break his strength and self-confidence in order to bestow upon him divine strength and divine wisdom. Then, like Jacob, when it is nearly within reach, and when we are ready to seize the opportunity, we are seized by a strong and irresistible hand - God’s hand. It is often God’s way of bringing us to a state of mind in which we can only receive it as His gift, totally by His power and His grace. Joh 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” The Lord desired to break his strength in order to perfect divine power in this man’s weakness. Joh 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” The Lord desired to break his strength in order to perfect divine power in this man’s weakness. And then He puts the socket of our human power permanently out of joint! When we are pursuing a goal and start to experience success, there is a tendency to assume that the accomplishment depends solely and completely on us. He desires it to be performed only by His might and power! Zec 4:6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Rom 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Rom 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. It may be your own personal achievements that hinder your relationship with God. Jer 48:7 For because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures, Even you yourself will be captured The only trouble is that He is working for us by working ON us - and we often don’t appreciate that at all when it’s happening. “Discipline” - Heb 12:11 - paideia = “the education a child gets from his parents.” Now Jacob did not get the specific thing that he prayed for! He received a change in nature and spiritual strength. Jacob’s nature was changed because he could no longer depend upon human strength but was forced to either believe or perish. Jacob prayed to be delivered from his (supposed) enemy, his brother Esau. The Lord, however, delivered Jacob from his real enemy - himself! Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 2Co 5:16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; Your real enemies are the problem and that begins with your enemy in residence, the old sin nature. Your flesh. Phi 3:3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, 1. Jacob’s experience with the Wrestler teaches us if we are going to live in our personal sense of destiny, we must be fully convinced that the flesh is worthless and helpless. 2. Part of our preparation for living in our personal sense of destiny will involve times when we are alone with God and He can reveal to us our nothingness without Him. 3. The fact that the wrestling match lasted all night shows the patience that God has with us as He slowly but firmly deals with our human nature. 4. Many times the thing that hinders believers from living in their personal sense of destiny is not their weakness but rather the strong side of their old sin nature. 5. The dislocation of Jacob’s thigh is the turning point in this wrestling contest. This indicates the transition in Jacob’s life and character from reliance upon self to reliance upon God. 6. Jacob could not become “Israel”, a prince with God, until he had been broken of his dependence on himself. If we want to live in our personal sense of destiny, we too must be stripped of our self-sufficiency and depend on the power of God in our lives. 7. If we insist on having our own way, and don’t let the Lord prevail against us, the Lord will take some severe measures to put our area of strength permanently out of joint. Then the only way forward is to give in and hold on to Him. |