Breakthrough in a dark place
But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin. For though he wounds, he also bandages. He strikes, but his hands also heal.
Job 5:17-18 NLT.
No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening - it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. Hebrews 12:11 NLT.
Unless the Lord exposes the darkness in our heart, truth cannot set us free. Until we are humbled, grace cannot restore our soul. And unless we are willing, God cannot.
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practise such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:16-23 NKJV.
Wholeness in God
We try. We fail. We try again. As we struggle to overcome darkness of the soul, we are in the process of being made one with God. One day we will be at peace with God.
And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed." Genesis 32:28 NKJV.
It took Jacob a long time to arrive at the ford of Jabbok. The defilement of his heart took root when he resorted to take advantage of his somewhat dullard of an older twin brother and supplanted his brother's birthright, whom Esau foolishly sold for bread and stew of lentils to satiate his hunger. Hence Esau despised his birthright. Jacob's heart would be further soiled when he agreed to his mother's plan to deceive his old and almost blind father into bestowing on him the blessings intended for his brother, Esau. And for that, a seed of discord was sown between Esau and Jacob that would only be resolved two decades later.
Upon his mother's advise, Jacob fled from his home to seek refuge with his mother's brother, Laban. For the next twenty years, Jacob would have a taste of his own medicine when Laban deceived him into consummating marriage with Leah, Laban's older daughter, on the night of Rachel's prearranged marriage to Jacob. Jacob had initially agreed to serve Laban seven years for the hand of Laban's younger daughter, Rachel. While Jacob realised that he had been deceived, yet because of his love for Rachel, he agreed to serve Laban an additional seven years to take Rachel as his wife also.
So twenty years, two wives, two maids, eleven sons and one daughter (and having his wages changed ten times) later, Jacob finally set out on the journey to return to his homeland.
Where it all started, the conniving, heeding the ways of Man instead of believing God for the fulfillment of His promises. Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If all is well, why am I like this?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger." Genesis 25:21-23 NKJV.
At last Jacob' persistence in his struggle to breakout from a dark place from his past, from choosing lesser than noble ways to obtain what his heart desired; triumphed this night at Jabbok. But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions. But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint. The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak." Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go until you bless me." The man said, "What's your name?" He answered, "Jacob."
The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through." Jacob asked, "And what's your name?" The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel (God's Face) because, he said, "I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!" Genesis 32:22-30 The Message.
We were the reason that He gave His life, we were the reason He suffered and died. To a world that was lost, He gave all He could give, to show us the reason to live.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried - our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him - our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him. Isaiah 53:5-6 The Message.
Still, it's what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it - life, life, and more life.
And GOD's plan will deeply prosper through him. Isaiah 53:10 The Message.
I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of - Jesus.
John 10:10 The Message.
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