Tuesday, August 2, 2011

What’s Holding You Back?

Jacob named the place Peniel -- “face of God” -- for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” -- Genesis 32:30

There comes a time when you come face-to-face with God. In this life. Jacob faced God and refused to let Him go without His blessing. Jacob faced his past and gave it to God. What do you need to give to God?

We’ve all got demons resting deep inside of us. We are, as Pastor Meghan said last Sunday, broken and wounded creatures who have the capability of wounding others. We struggle to get ahead of the pack, fueled by the demons of anxiety and insecurity. We are on a never ending treadmill -- until we get off, fall off, or get kicked off. Then we meet God.

Jacob had reason to be worried. Okay. He had reason to be scared witless. He was about to meet his brother, the same brother he’d deceived when they were young. Jacob had lied and stolen Esau’s birthright. Now he was preparing to say he was sorry and try to reconcile with his twin. But first he had to reconcile himself to God.

It’s never fun to face our mistakes. But Jacob held on to God, refusing to let Him go. They struggled through the night. Isn’t that how it often is? We can make it through the days, pretending that all is well, but nightfall brings out the fear. We either turn to God or we turn away. If we’re smart, we turn to God and hold on to Him with everything we have. Just like Jacob.

God did bless Jacob and renamed him Israel, signifying the change in each of us when we receive God into our hearts. As Pastor Meghan said, it is a life altering event. We are at once broken and healed. Just as Jacob carried a permanent limp from his struggle, we all carry scars. We can let those scars hold us back, derail our lives, or we can take God’s hand and be lifted up and set upon a solid rock.

We all wrestle with demons in this life. Some of them are past and some are ongoing. We hurt each other. We hang on to past wrongs. Our demons hold us back from God’s blessings.

Jacob left that next morning and crossed the Jabbok River into the Promise Land. He’d given God his mistakes and was ready to become the man God planned for him to be. How about you? What’s holding you back from the glorious blessings God has planned for you?