Clay (Jacob, part I)

Stories have power. 

And the power of the Biblical stories is that they reveal the divine Potter.  How God fashions and molds us, the clay in His hands.  

Enter Jacob.  This man has got to be the most manipulative, self-serving deceiver in the Bible!  To be honest, this dude is a nasty man!  And yet God set His covenant love upon Jacob.  God met Jacob’s primal drive of “ME!” by choosing him, blessing him, loving him, and breaking him.  That’s covenant love, what Francis Chan calls “crazy love.”  I mean, we would be hard-pressed to come up with a better example of God loving someone more than Jacob.  And...invisible blush and a hard swallow on this end...embarrassing as it is, I see a lot of ME in Jacob; I see an insecure man extremely driven out of some wounded place in his heart.  Jacob’s story is my story. 

Scene 1 of Jacob’s story begins even before his birth, as God explains to Rebekah why her twins are having a wrestling match in her womb...

“Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.”  Genesis 25:23

God reveals to Rebekah His choice of Jacob.  Oh, Esau will be blessed too, but God sets His covenant love upon Jacob.  Let’s let the mystery of divine sovereignty--the way God rolls--alone.  We don’t need to fully grasp it nor exhaustively explain it to our unbelieving friends.  If you try, good luck with that:)  Instead of trying to explain it, let it simply wash over you...God chose you.

I mean, seriously, you aren’t going to say you got into this party without an invite, right?  

Scene 1 of Jacob’ story is pregnant Rebekah, but scene 1 of God’s story is simply God, by Himself, in eternity past, deciding to set His covenant love upon...you and me...and Jacob.

“for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls”  Romans 9:11

This story confronts me.  

It confronts me with a God who chose...me.  It confronts me with there being some great purpose behind that choosing.  It confronts me with a God who faithfully accomplishes ALL that He sets out to do...all that He promises to do...despite our circumstances, sins, and slowness to trust.  Why God chose Jacob, and why God chose us, remains a mystery, except for this one stunning revelation...

“so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:7. 

Please read this next line slowly.  It’s as if God were to say, “I just want you to know how much I love you.”  It’s just who God is, the way He rolls.  And this story, perhaps more than any other, highlights the faithfulness of God toward a really broken man.

There is much more to see in this story, but--spoiler alert--despite all his conniving, all his desperate attempts to push others out of the way, all his deception and selfish ambition, Jacob gets blessed by God.  Ultimately, he wrestles with God saying, “I will not let go until you bless me,” to which God essentially responds, “O.k...You got it.  You’ve had it all along.”  For all time, God has set this story before us to confront us with His love.

So the hero of Jacob’s story...and your story...is the eternal God, Yahweh, the LORD, the One who fashions the hearts of them all” (Ps. 33:15), the divine Potter.

And do you see that lump of clay in His hands?  That’s you.

Blog writing ®John Hever. Unless otherwise stated, photos are not the original creative works of John Hever. To access the website of h2o church, go to www.h2ochurch.org.

Unleashed

 “If you knew you wouldn’t fail, what would you attempt to the glory of God?”  

In other words, if success were a given, what would you attempt?  This question haunts me.  I HATE it.  Simply because everyone I know--me included--lives bound by the chains of fear. We walk underneath the grey, overcast skies of mediocrity.  And God wants us unleashed from fear.

One of my favorite stories about our kids comes from my son’s adventures in soccer.  As a totally non-biased dad (wink:), I could tell he was probably the best player on the team (Some of you may relate to my “non-bias”); he had a strong kick, good footwork, and excellent field awareness.  This season was gonna be fun!...

But the first game wasn’t.  I stood on the sidelines, with feelings of anger and embarrassment as my son...acted like a child.  Yes, yes, he was only eight, but “For goodness sake, Caleb, get your head in the game and stop acting like a...boy!”  Now, to the uninitiated, we parent types can often discern what is going on in the heart of a child, mainly because that’s what I used to do...that’s what I still do! 

And my son was scared.  I could tell.  I’ve been there many times.

He was covering it up pretty well, but he was afraid to fail, and consequently, wasn’t putting out all that much on the soccer field.  Listen up: the battles that are won or lost on the soccer field, gym class or baseball diamonds of childhood are absolutely vital to the development of a healthy confidence in the rest of life.  I wasn’t about to let my son’s fear control him the way my fears have controlled me.  He needed help.  He needed Dad.

Over the next few weeks, we worked hard!  We focused on dribbling, shooting, and passing, but mostly on him simply believing he could do it.  I asked him, time and time again, to “man up,”  to play without fear of what could go wrong.  We even developed a secret signal, a fist pump to the chest that meant “I’m going for it!” Game time finally arrived, and he got his first goal of the season.  The next game, he scored twice, then three times in the next.  His confidence was soaring.

It was half-time of the next game and his team was getting shut out, 1-0.  I went over to him, and looked down into his eight-year old eyes.  I asked, “Son, do you know what your team needs?...For you to go crazy out there! For you to leave it all on the field, no fear, no holding back.”  He looked up at me with eyes of faith that his father was telling him the truth and just nodded.  Then, as he lined up for the start of the second half, get this...he looked over at me...and gave me the secret signal.  With the whistle about to blow to start the second half, he looked at his dad and gave a fist pump to the chest.   It was awesome!  Then the explosion happened.  He scored with his right foot.  Then with his left.  He scored off of a throw-in from the sidelines and on a break away.  He scored six times in 20 minutes.  Parents were looking at me and asking, “What did you feed that boy this morning for breakfast?”

I walked off the field with my arm around my son, telling him how proud I was of him, and then I heard it--the whisper of God.  “This is what I am doing in YOUR life, too,”  the Voice said.  “I want YOU to live...UNLEASHED.”

They call Him “The Comforter,” the Paracletos, One who draws alongside to encourage, to coach, to call out what is there, to ask us to “man up.”  For many of us, our fears have followed us into adulthood, lying there like a mighty barrier between what we are and all that we could become...if we would just leave it all out on the field.  If we could just get unleashed.

Ephesians 3:20–21 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”  To HIM WHO IS ABLE.  It’s most definitely not about us; it never has been. 

So what are YOU afraid of?  What would it look like, today, to live all out, without fear of what people thought of you, fear of failing, fear of not having what it takes?  What would that look like?  What do you want out of this day, today, right now?

It’s half time, and you’re the one lined up at midfield...

“If you knew you wouldn’t fail, what would you attempt to the glory of God?” 

***

Blog writing ®John Hever. Unless otherwise stated, photos are not the original creative works of John Hever. To access the website of h2o church, go to www.h2ochurch.org.