February 4, 2007

Jacob: Finding Your Way Back Home

Genesis 35:1-15

            CNN’s website recently featured an article about Frank Warren, editor of the book The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book.  After a troubling period in his own life, he handed out 3000 self-addressed stamped postcards to people on the street, asking them to anonymously mail him their secrets.  It began as a sort of public art project in 2004.  To his surprise, the cards started pouring in.  He doesn’t have to hand out cards anymore.  He has received over 100,000 cards, many of which are works of art in themselves.  It has led to PostSecret.com, and there are now many sites like it where you can confess your sins or tell your deepest secret anonymously.  One postcard had an old picture of a Santa Claus with two boys on his lap.  On the picture were written the words, “I wish my sons would contact me.”  Another that I was particularly drawn to was one where a man had taken a picture of his hands praying, and written on the picture: “I don’t know how to go back to God, and I want to more than anything else in the world.”  Both cards were about finding your way back home.  One from a father’s perspective who missed his sons, and the other from a lost son who could not find the way back to his heavenly Father. 

            What is it that makes it difficult for us to find our way back home?  I believe the first thing is: The natural rebellion in the human heart.  If we could have interviewed the prodigal son in Jesus’ story, he might have told us that he did not like all the rules at home.  He may have said that he did not like having to answer to his father for everything.  Like Jacob, he wanted to get away from his older brother.  He just needed to get away from home and have a change of scenery.  He wanted to sow his wild oats.  But for Jacob, he had created his own problems through deceit and self-centeredness which had created a lot of destructive things in his life. 

            I see a lot of people today who would rather continue in their dysfunctional lifestyle, which is not working for them at all, than to turn their lives over to God.  They would like for God to help them with some of their problems, but they have no intention of surrendering their lives to God.  They are caught up in a web of self-destruction, but they would rather live with the destruction their choices have caused than give up the control of their lives.  I don’t have to give you any illustrations of this, because each of you are probably already thinking of several by yourself. 

            Sometimes there are those who manage to break the cycle.  In a recent article entitled “The Gym of the Soul” on CitizenLink.com, there is a quote from someone who says, “No matter what, you can overcome your past.  With help, if you look to God, you can overcome your past and be reborn.”  But it was not a preacher who was quoted, rather it was someone you might not expect.  It was Sylvester Stallone, a.k.a. “Rocky.”  Stuart Shepard tells the story of the turnaround in Stallone’s life.  He tells how Stallone surprised the entertainment world by resurrecting his iconic movie hero, Rocky Balboa, for one last film.  And while he was traveling and promoting the film, he told how his faith in Jesus Christ and his renewed commitment to the Christian faith was instrumental in his decision to make the final movie.  The article quotes Stallone as saying, “I was raised in a Catholic home, a Christian home, and I went to Catholic schools and I was taught the faith and went as far as I could with it, until one day, you know, I got out in the so-called real world and I was presented with temptation.  I kinda like lost my way and made a lot of bad choices.”  The article quips, “No joke, said all the subscribers to People magazine.  But, Stallone added, he’s been going through a change in his life.  He’s realized that he was wrong to place his career and fame ahead of his family.  ‘The more I go to church,’ he said, ‘and the more I turn myself over to the process of believing in Jesus and listening to His Word and having Him guide my hand, I feel as though the pressure is off me now.’  And, admitting that the analogy might be a little pedestrian, he made a correlation between physical and spiritual fitness.  ‘You need to have the expertise and the guidance of someone else.  You cannot train yourself,’ he said. ‘I feel the same way about Christianity and about what the church is: The church is the gym of the soul.’”

            Stallone says that he has had his own personal crisis of faith, his own Bethel.  Most of us cannot say that we have seen the sky open, nor have we passed by any flaming bushes.  We have not had blinding experiences like Paul on the road to Damascus.  But there are still those times when God comes unexpectedly into our lives.  It may be in our sleep.  It may be when we are least thinking about it.  It may be in church, or it may be some place where we should not be.  It may come when we need him the most, or when we feel we do not need him at all.  It may be in a time of crisis and depression, or it may be in a time of great blessing and joy.  But God is the God of the unexpected.  He can come knocking on your door when you least expect it.  He may even come when you least want to hear from him.  It may be a time when you feel him near, but you are afraid to hear what he is wanting to say.  You might not want to hear what he is asking you to do.  You are afraid to let go and let something happen to you.  Don’t let your rebellious spirit keep you away. 

            What is it that makes it difficult for us to find our way back home?  Not everyone is a rebel.  Some folks, like the man on the postcard, are lost and don’t know how to get back home.  So the second thing that makes it hard to find our way home is: We don’t know the way.  Jacob is a man who needed to find his way to God, but he did not seem to know how.  His father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham both had life-altering encounters with God, but nothing has happened to him at this point.  All he had to go on were the stories of what happened to his father and grandfather.  Life had been pretty good for Jacob.  He had grown up to be a shepherd and he lived a serene existence.  Jacob had not had much need for God.  We never read about any conversations about God or with him.  We never read about him worshiping, nor any encounters with God in all of his life up until he meets God at Bethel.  But Jacob is desperately in need of God now.  He has swindled his brother out of his birthright and inheritance, and the conflict between him and his brother has escalated to the place where he is in fear of losing his life.  He needs to go home to God, but he doesn’t seem to know the way. 

            The good news is that when we cannot find our way to God, God will come to us.  Jacob is running from his brother and his problems — the problems he has created.  Finally, as he is on the run, the night comes and he falls asleep.  There is a rock for a pillow under his head, and above his head the open heavens.  As he is asleep, God reveals himself to Jacob.  In his dream there is what appears to be a large ladder, or staircase of light, the top of which reaches to heaven and the very throne of God.  God reveals himself and promises Jacob that he will inherit the promises which God had made to his father and his father before him.  The Lord repeats those promises to him personally saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.  I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth...  All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:13-15).

            Jacob calls the place “Bethel,” which in Hebrew means ‘House of God.’ This special place seems to him to be the very dwelling place of the Lord.  Jacob has met God.  He wasn’t expecting to meet him.  He wasn’t even thinking of God.  It was purely grace.  Meeting God was probably the last thing on his mind.  He did not even want to meet God.  He was only thinking of getting away from his brother.  His mind was full of thoughts about where he was going and what was ahead of him.  But God broke into Jacob’s self-absorbed world in a dramatic way.  God opened his world to Jacob, even when Jacob had closed his world to God. 

            This whole incident tells us something very important about God.  Isaiah the prophet quotes God as saying, “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.  To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’” (Isaiah 65:1).  God is full of surprises.  Just when you do not expect to meet him, he comes to you.  God can interrupt our self-centered lives in the most amazing ways, even if you are not wanting him to hear from him. 

            The story is told of an agnostic who fell off a cliff, but as he was falling he reached out and grabbed a root.  He was barely able to hang on and felt himself slipping.  In a fit of desperation he screamed, “God, if you are up there, help me.” In a flash the voice of God came back and said, “Son, do you believe in me?”  “Yes,” cried the agnostic, “I believe in you!  What do you want me to do?”  The voice of God came back strong and clear: “I want you to trust me and let go of the root.”  There was a long pause before the agnostic was eventually heard to say, “Is there anybody else up there?”  There are a lot of people who want to know if God is up there until he tells them something they do not want to hear.  They want to go home until he tells them what they have to do to get there. 

            What is it that makes it difficult for us to find our way back home?  The third reason is because: We have to decide what is important.  It is interesting that Jacob’s journey back to God involved a journey back to the people he had wronged in life.  Jacob’s life involves a trail of broken relationships.  Before he returns again to Bethel, he must face Esau.  Before he meets God, he must meet his brother.  In the process of healing our broken relationship with God, our broken relationships with others must be faced.  Becoming right with God involves becoming right with others.  But in order to do that you have to get over your hurt.  You have to forgive the past.  You have to forget about who is right and who is wrong.  It begins when you begin to want to have a healing in those relationships more than you want to be right.  You pray for that healing and work toward it.  It may or may not be possible for there to be a healing, but you have to want there to be.  The Bible says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. . . .  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge” (Romans 12:17-19).  

            When Jacob sent for Esau and heard that he was not only coming, but bringing 400 men with him, he thought he might be attacked and killed.  He made a decision to send a gift, a peace offering to Esau.  He sent him hundreds of animals: goats, sheep, camels, cows and donkeys.  Next, he sent all the people with him in groups over the Jabbok river to meet Esau.  The last people he sent were his wives and children.  He sent over all his possessions.  He had to come to the place where he decided what was important in his life.  And then it was just Jacob and God.  He wrestled with God all night.  There is an interesting, and rather surprising, verse in this description of Jacob’s fight with God.  It says that God was not able to overpower Jacob (Genesis 32:25).  How amazing!  How is it that God cannot overpower a mere man?  Because this is a limit God has set upon himself.  If you are fighting God, he will not overpower you.  He will not crush you and take away your will.  He will not force you to come to him and find your way home.  This must be your decision alone. 

            Another interesting thing about this struggle with God is, that when it becomes daybreak, God  asks Jacob to let him go, and Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  God blesses him and gives him a new name, and Jacob says, “I saw God face to face and my life was spared.”  That’s the way to struggle with God.  You have to hold on until he promises to bless you.  You keep holding on and holding on in faith and prayer until the blessing comes.  Only after Jacob wrestles with God is he ready to meet his brother.  And when they meet there are tears and an embrace.  Then there is this wonderful exclamation that Jacob makes.  He says to Esau, his brother, “To see your face is like seeing the face of God” (Genesis 32:10).  Now there is the best part of the story: Reconciliation came when Jacob saw God in his brother.  He had seen God twice.  Once when he wrestled with him, and the second time when he was reunited with his brother.  When he was reunited with God, he was reunited with his brother.  And when he was reunited with his brother, he was reunited with God.  Now he is ready to complete his journey home as he heads back to Bethel, the place where he has first encountered God. 

            I want you to hear this if you hear nothing else today: God is interested in you.  He is looking for you.  He is looking for a way he can come into your life and lead you home.  He made you with his own hands.  He longs for you, and he is looking for a way for the two of you to meet.  There is so much he wants to do for you if you will only let him in.

            It may be that you are running like Jacob.  You may be running from family, from problems, or from God.  It may be that your life is in an upheaval.  There may be broken relationships as there were with Jacob.  It may be that you are heading into an uncertain future.  God can meet you in any of these circumstances.  You never know when he is going to show up.  Any day could contain a most unusual visit from God.  There extends a stairway from the heart of God to your heart right now.  Wake up and say with Jacob: “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it...  How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:16,17).

            In his book The Spiritual Life of Children, the famous Harvard psychiatrist Robert Coles, tells the story of Alice, a ten-year-old girl who came from a family that did not believe in God.  She expressed her doubts to him with these words: “I remember... I saw the people next door coming home from church, and I looked out the window after they’d left and I tried to ask God if they were right and we were wrong, because we never go.  But how can you talk with God?  I said, ‘All right, God, please, I’m young, and I’d like to know, so give us a signal, me and my mommy and daddy.’ I knew he wouldn’t  —  and he didn’t.”  But then she says, “Later, when I went to the park, I thought there might not be a God, but somehow we have this park and the flowers are out, and how did all of this begin, that’s what I’d like to know!” 

            God met her in the park, when she least expected him, and astounded her with the miracles that were all around her.  Don’t miss the signs that are pointing the way home.  He is there and he is longing for you to come home. 

Rodney J. Buchanan

February 4, 2007

Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org