Last week we used the illustration
of a moth struggling to get out of its cocoon. A well meaning
environmentalist helped to free him from the cocoon while he was
struggling to get out, but in doing that he denied the moth the
chance to develop his wings and in the end he caused his death.
Then we looked at our children and the need for them to struggle in
order to make it out of the cocoon and learn from the process.
Today we will talk about the effect
of struggling for ourselves.
The most prominent struggle in the
Old Testament was when Jacob struggled with God. I am sure all of
you know the story. Jacob was on his way back to his home land,
back to be reconciled with Esau, but before he crossed the Jabbok
river, the Lord came and he wrestled with God one whole night.
Genesis 32:24 "This left Jacob
alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until
dawn."
And when the sun rose, the 'man'
wanted to leave, but Jacob wouldn't let him go. Then the 'man'
said:
Genesis 32:28 "Your name will no
longer be Jacob," the man told him. "It is now Israel, because you
have struggled with both God and men and have won."
You see Jacob had to struggle in
order to change. He changed from being Jacob - the one who deceives
- to Israel, the beloved nation of the Lord.
At some point or another we are all
struggling with something. It might be past hurts, it might be a
disease with which we are diagnosed, it might be our work, we might
be struggling to know our purpose in life, we might be struggling
in certain relationships, whatever it may be, we all struggle at
some point.
But the most wonderful part of it
is that God is busy strengthening our wings in the process. He
doesn't bring the hurt our way to chastise us, no He allows it to
strengthen us. We might struggle and it might be painful, but once
we get out of the cocoon, we are ready to fly. We break free from
the things we have been struggling with and we leave it behind,
never to think of it again. We can start anew, fresh and we can
spread our wings, just like Israel did. We can confidently start
with the new life that God has planned for us. We are no longer
Jacob, the one who deceives, no, we change into Israel, God's
beloved.
Thank you that You are there in the
midst of our struggles. Thank you God for helping us to strengthen
our wings and to fly into Your purpose for us. In Jesus' name.
Amen