Running from Hard

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

Generally I’m the kind of person who is very persistent. Once I start a project, even if I run into difficulties, I’ll keep working at it until I finish it. Sometimes that requires taking a break for a while so that I can look at the problem from a different perspective or to regather my strength if it’s a physical task.

But I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t always applied that same degree of persistence when it comes to some of my personal relationships. As long as I can remember, I’ve never really liked conflict, so for a long time every time there was the possibility of conflict, my first reaction was to run from it. Fortunately, I’ve learned over the years that is not a good approach because that conflict will continue to hang over my head until I take the time to deal with it.

Tension

But my guess is that all of you also have had times in your life when you’ve had a problem that you’ve run from, too. I think we all have something or someone that we avoid or try to escape from. That running can take all kinds of different forms:

Some people try to numb themselves to the problem by turning to alcohol or drugs

Some people bury themselves in some distraction like video games, or TV, or sports, or surfing the internet

Some people run from their problems by blaming them on someone else - a spouse, a co-worker, a teacher, or a politician

Truth

As we’re going to see this morning, running away is a short term solution at best. If we don’t deal with them head on, eventually our problems will come around and knock us for a loop.

This morning we continue in our current sermon series, “Never Going Back”. In this series we’ve been addressing a number of barriers that might cause us to want to live in the past rather than moving forward like God wants us to do. If you haven’t already figured it out, today we’ll be talking about how running from our problems can keep us stuck in the past.

And Jacob is the perfect example to help us understand how to overcome that potential barrier. Before we read today’s passage in Genesis 32, let me set the stage by giving you a quick history of Jacob’s life up until this point.

The account of his life begins in Genesis 25 when Jacob and his twin brother Esau are born to Isaac and Rebekah. Esau is born first and when Jacob is born he is holding his older brother’s heel, so he is named Jacob, which means something like “he grasps the heel” or “supplanter”. And that proves to be quite an appropriate name.

As the older brother, Esau was entitled to his father’s inheritance and his blessing, but, with his mother’s help, Jacob tricks Esau into giving them both to him. Not surprisingly, Esau hates Jacob and vows to kill him as soon as their father dies. It is at that point that Jacob begins his life of running.

He flees to Haran to stay with Laban, his mother’s brother. On the way, he has a dream in which God promises to give the land he is sleeping on to him and his descendents and to make his descendents into a great nation. But Jacob is so committed to running from Esau that he doesn’t stay there, but instead keeps running to Laban’s home.

There, Jacob gets a bit of his own medicine. He falls in love with Rachel, but Laban tricks him into marrying her older, uglier sister Leah. So Jacob has to serve Laban another seven years before he is permitted to marry Rachel, too. After Rachel finally bears a son, Jacob pleads for Laban to allow him to return to his own family and his country. But before he will permit Jacob and his family to leave, Laban requires him to enter into an agreement in which he will care for Laban’s flocks and be paid by being allowed to keep the sheep of a particular coloring.

God prospered Jacob and his flocks multiplied greatly, but some of Laban’s sons accused Jacob of stealing what belonged to them. So once again Jacob goes on the run. He takes both his wives, his children and all his livestock and heads back toward his home in Canaan. But when Laban hears what is happening, he takes a group of his men and pursues Jacob and they finally overtake Jacob and his family. When Laban confronts Jacob, Jacob explains why he ran:

Genesis 31:31 ESV

Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

Once again, Jacob has resorted to his typical behavior when he is afraid - he runs. And once again because he is on the run, he is unable to enjoy the blessings that God had promised to him 20 years earlier.

Jacob and Laban make an agreement in which they set up a boundary between them which they both agree not to cross. So now Jacob has no where to go except back to his own country, where Esau awaits. Although he can’t physically run away from Esau at this point, he does still figure out a way to at least postpone their meeting.

Jacob sends messengers to Esau to let his know he is coming. But when those messenger return and tell Jacob that Esau is on his way with 400 men, Jacob’s response is not a surprise:

Genesis 32:7 ESV

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,

Once again Jacob is afraid and so he comes up with a plan to split his family into two groups, figuring that if Esau comes after one group the other might be able to escape. To his credit, Jacob also pauses to pray. But then he also takes things into his own hands and sends a very substantial gift of valuable livestock ahead of him as a present to appease Esau.

We’ll pick up the account in verse 22:

Genesis 32:22–32 ESV

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Here is the main idea we’re going to develop from this passage this morning:

Sometimes God has to break me before he can bless me

Up to this point, every time Jacob has faced some difficulty in his life, his first reaction has been to run. Even now, when he has no choice but to face Esau, he sends others out before him with gifts to try and appease Esau and he waits in the rear, ready to run once again if he needs to.

But for only the second time we know of, Jacob takes time to slow down and get away by himself to get alone with God. The last time he had done that was 20 years earlier as he traveled in the opposite direction on the way to Laban’s house.

This is a really fascinating passage because as readers we are drawn into the story in a way that allows us to experience it just as Jacob does. As Jacob sits there alone in the dark a man begins to wrestle with him. I have to wonder what went through Jacob’s mind at that point. Maybe he thought it was Esau or one of his men who had found Jacob and attacked him. Maybe he thought he was being attacked by a robber. But at this point the thought didn’t even occur that this could possibly be God.

As they continued to wrestle all night, I have to think Jacob began to realize that something supernatural was going on here. And that was confirmed when the “man” merely touched his hip socket and put his hip out of joint. So when the man tells Jacob to let him go, Jacob replies that he won’t do that until the man blesses him. It’s pretty obvious that by that point Jacob now realizes he has been wrestling with God all night. And he confirms that a short time later when he proclaims that he has seen God face to face and still lived.

In this account God actually breaks Jacob twice here before He blesses him. He does that first in a physical way by dislocating his hip joint. By doing that God disables, at least to some degree, the strongest muscle in Jacob’s body - his thigh muscle. And He also leaves Jacob with a lasting reminder of his encounter with God that also serves as a witness to others throughout the rest of Jacob’s life.

But I think the second way that God breaks Jacob is even more significant. He asks a question that seems kind of strange at first: “What is your name?” Now obviously God doesn’t need to ask that because he doesn’t know Jacob’s name. He is clearly asking that for Jacob’s benefit. When Jacob tells God his name he is reminded of what his life has been like up to this point. He has lived up to his name by constantly getting what he wants by deceiving others. And God knows that Jacob can’t move forward into the future until he first comes face to face with his past. So He gets Jacob to acknowledge his sin and the pain he had caused others because of that sin.

It is only then that God blesses Jacob by giving him a new name, a name that from this point forward will not only serve as a reminder of this encounter, but one that also promises to give Jacob a new identity and a transformed life. He will no longer be called Jacob, the supplanter or deceiver. He will now be Israel, the one who strives with God.

Before we talk about how to apply this passage in our own lives, let me briefly tell you how this story ends. After this encounter, Jacob is no longer running or even hiding at the back of his entourage. He goes ahead of the rest of his family and meets Esau face to face. By now, Esau has had plenty of time to get over his anger and he has forgiven Jacob and he greets Jacob and his family warmly. And Jacob was finally able to settle in the land that God had promised to him 20 years earlier. Because he finally stopped running, he was able to move forward and be where God wanted him to be.

So what can we learn from Jacob’s life that we can apply to our own lives?

Application

Our main idea this morning is...

Sometimes God has to break me before he can bless me

For Jacob, and for us, that can only occur when we quit running long enough to stop and spend personal time alone with God. Jacob had been so busy running, that, at least as far as we can tell from the Bible, he had failed to do that for 20 years. He was so busy doing, that he never slowed down enough to let God break him so He could bless him.

But that night as he wrestled alone with God all night, Jacob finally quit running long enough to let God break him and bless him.

Some of you have been so busy running that you haven’t taken time to just get away to a quiet place and wrestle with God for a while. And as a result, you’ve not only avoided being broken, which admittedly all of us would prefer to do, but you’ve also missed the blessing.

That’s why it’s so important to take some time each day just to get away from the craziness of this world and spend some quiet time, away from all those distractions, with God. But what do I do during that time? Let me suggest three essential practices that we need to incorporate into those personal times with God.

THREE WAYS TO LET GOD BREAK ME SO HE CAN BLESS ME

Acknowledge my own sin

In today’s culture names don’t usually have as much significance as they did in Jacob’s day. So God probably isn’t going to ask you, “What is your name?” But He will cause you to come face to face with your sin in other ways.

He primarily does that through the Bible. I can assure you you that if you read through the entire Bible in some systematic manner, you will frequently come to passages that will bring the sins in your life to light. And when that happens you have a choice. You can either ignore those passages or you can justify or excuse your sin, or you can let God use those passages to break your heart and cause you to acknowledge that sin to Him and repent and seek His forgiveness.

Other times, if you are sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, He will reveal your sin. This happened to me earlier this week as I was driving. Let’s just say that the thoughts I was having about another driver weren’t very Christ-like. And almost immediately the Holy Spirit not only convicted me about those thoughts but also revealed that this wasn’t the only time I’d failed to be gracious to others. So that was something that I confessed to God and something that I now recognize that I need to work on in my life.

Let go of my self-sufficiency

Up until this point in his life, Jacob had relied upon his own schemes to get what he wanted in life. Even as he gets ready to face his brother Esau, he devises his own plan that he hopes will protect him from his brother’s anger. And then he basically prays to God and asks God to bless his plan.

If we’re honest, we often operate in the same way. Sometimes, we turn to God only as a last resort after we’ve exhausted all our other options. At other times, we make our own plans and then we present them to God and ask Him to bless them.

We even do that when it comes to our salvation. We think that if we just do enough good things in our life that somehow God is obligated to accept that as a basis for a relationship with a perfect, holy God.

But, just like He did with Jacob, God often brings trials and difficulties into our lives to remind us that we are incapable of handling things on our own. It is likely to all of us eventually.

The doctor tells us that it is cancer and there is nothing else they can do.

The boss says, “I’m sorry but we’re downsizing and we no longer have a place for you”.

Your spouse is unfaithful and the marriage that you thought was strong is in shambles.

If we’ll let Him, God will use those trials to shatter our self-sufficiency and lead us to trust Him in new and deeper ways. But if we’re too stubborn to do that and try to keep on doing things our way, the inevitable result is not blessing, but rather disaster.

I especially need to do that with those areas in my life where I am struggling with some sin. If I just try to deal with that sin in my own power, I will never be successful in the long run. But if I admit my weakness and ask God to help, then it is possible to get free from the bondage of that sin.

Cling to God

Once Jacob recognized he had been wrestling with God, he wasn’t going to let go of God until he received a blessing.

I am not suggesting here that we merely hang on to God so that we can get something from Him. But, what I will say is that when we get in the middle of some trial, the solution is not to run, but to hang onto God with everything we have.

That doesn’t always mean that God will remove the trial. He never promised to do that. In this instance, Jacob was still going to have to face his brother, not knowing how Esau would react. But after his encounter with God, He was equipped to do that with great confidence, knowing that whatever happened God would be there with him.

We have that very same assurance. If we cling to God, He may not remove the difficulties in our life, but He promises to walk through them with us. I find it’s helpful to pray something like this whenever I’m faced with a trial that I’m tempted to run from:

“God, I don’t particularly like this trial that I’m going through right now. But I trust completely in you and I believe that you love me and that you are using this trial for good in my life and in the lives of others. Thank you that you have promised never to leave me or forsake me and that you have promised that you will be with me as I go through this difficulty. Help me to cling to you during this time.”

Inspiration

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said:

Whenever God means to make a man great, he always breaks him in pieces first.

We’ve certainly seen this morning that is true. So let me ask all of us a question:

Are you willing to be broken by God so that you can be blessed by God?

Are you willing to stop running for long enough to spend some time alone with God and apply the principles that we’ve discovered this morning?

Will you acknowledge your sin?

Will you let go of your self-sufficiency?

Will you cling to God?

Action

For some of you, that might mean making a decision to commit your life to Jesus for the very first time. You can do that right now wherever you are by taking those three steps:

Admit to God that you are a sinner who has fallen short of His holy standards for your life.

Let go of your own self-sufficiency and acknowledge that there is nothing that you can do to earn God’s favor or merit a relationship with Him.

Cling to God by putting your faith in Jesus Christ alone. Trust that His death on the cross was sufficient to pay the penalty for your sin and make you righteous before God.

If you’ve made that decision this morning, or if you’d like to talk to us more about how to make that commitment, please let us know. If you’re here in person, talk to me after this gathering. Or there are some Connection Cards at the information center in the lobby that you can fill out and return to any of our greeters or to me or put them in the box in the lobby or the back of the auditorium. If you’re joining us online, there is a blue link at the top of the page that says “Connection Card” that you can use to let us know of your decision. If you’re joining us on Facebook, just send us a message.

For the rest of you who have already made that decision, let me ask you a question:

What are you running from?

Whatever that is, I want to encourage you to quit running and take some concrete steps to apply the principles we’ve learned today in your life. Let God break you so He can bless you.