Faith of a Child

This is something that I wrote down a while ago. I thought that I would add it here also.


The other day I was minding my own business when my 5 year old (excuse me… 5 and a half) illustrated something to me.

Let me see if I can set the scene:

My five year old (ahem…five and a half) and I were walking upstairs. I turned my head to grab a bag sitting beside the stairs just waiting for a ride up to the school room. A strange motion caught my attention from the corner of my eye.

Before I could even process what was happening, I had caught my son (who was laughing saying "can I do it again") who had decided to perform an unannounced, backward "trust fall" from about four (4) steps in front of me.

Son: Daddy, can we do it again?

Me: Did you fall on purpose?

Son: Yes, can I do it again?

Me: Why did you fall like that?

Son: cause it was fun, can I do it again?

Me: What if daddy didn't catch you?

Then it happened…

My son then looked at with an expression on his face that would have said "DUH", but we don't say that word in our family. But you could tell that in his mind, I had just asked one of the most ridiculous questions that he had ever heard. His puzzled look and reply caused me to pause. He said with such mater-of-fact way "Daddy, I knew you were with me, you always are going to catch me." His face and response let me know that the thought of his daddy ever not being there to guide and protect him, not only didn't even cross his mind, but was utterly preposterous and didn't deserve consideration.

I then muttered "not now" to his repeated request to "do it again" and I couldn't help but wonder, what if all Children of God could truly have the faith of a five (and a half) year old that our "Daddy" will always catch us. What if we could push from our heart and mind the doubt and distrust that we have created through our imperfect relationships on Earth. We wouldn't even have to worry, "God, are you watching… you're gonna catch me… right?" We could just know that God is with us and will always catch us. How great would this be?

Matthew 18:3
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Wrestling with God

Gen 32:24-29 (HCSB)

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. Then He said to Jacob, “Let Me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.”

“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”

But He answered, “Why do you ask My name?” And He blessed him there.

I cannot tell you how many times I have read or heard this story in Sunday School. But I have not really understood the significance of this passage until recently. There are a lot of things that I have always missed. Let me show you some of my recent thought processes.

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

Well, that seems simple but there are two major revelations that I have had about this. The fact that the “He and Me” are capitalized lets us know that this person is a messenger of God. He even states that when he changes Jacobs name.

First Revelation:

In order to wrestle with this angel, Jacob would need to see the angel. Angels do not appear to us unless they have a task, a message, or are directed by God.

Numbers 22 is the story of Balaam and his talking donkey. Balaam was not allowed to see the angel until the Lord allowed it.

When Christ was born, the shepherds saw one angel when he was to announce the birth of Christ. Then they were allowed to see the multitude of angels when it was time to worship. In 2

Kings 6 God selectively allowed Elisha and his servant to see the Army of the Lord.

Contrary to the movie “Michael” starring John Travolta, angels do not wonder the earth looking for something to battle! When they go, they go with a purpose!

So my revelation: The angel was sent to Jacob specifically for the purpose of wrestling with Jacob. The angel was on a mission, not just passing the time.

Second Revelation:

Angels are supremely powerful. They are not all powerful, that is reserved for God and God alone. But they are certainly more powerful that man.

2 Peter 2:11a however, angels, who are greater in might and power

In 2 Chronicles 32 and 2 Kings 19 we read the story of the battle against King Hezekiah of the Assyrian empire. God sent ONE angel and during the night, this ONE angel killed 185,000 soldiers (specifically "every brave warrior, leader, and commander"). To put that into perspective, if we assume (quite generously) that the term night refers to (extremely conservatively) 12 hours that would average killing 4.28 trained soldiers every SECOND!!!!

In Daniel 6, one angel shut the mouth of all of the lions

In Genesis 3, we are told that one angel guards the way to the tree of life in the garden of Eden.

There are more examples but we get the picture that angels are not something to be trifled with. The angel even dislocated Jacob’s hip simply by striking his leg. This takes quite a bit of force. The fact that Jacob was able to wrestle with the angel until daybreak and was able to limp away was for one reason… GOD TOLD THE ANGEL NOT TO KILL HIM!

I always envisioned this as an epic battle, especially when I read the next part When the man saw that He could not defeat him. But this is not correct. Anyone that has children will understand this.

I have a six (6) year old son. He loves to wrestle and “fight” with daddy. I am stronger and more powerful. It is not a fair fight. But unless I try to seriously hurt the boy, I cannot “take the fight” out of him. Even if I pin him, immobilize him or tackle him; he is always ready for more, he wants to continue and he considers it a success if he manages to simply hang on or for a moment grab my arm as I have him pinned. I envision this epic wrestling match to be very similar. Jacob realized this was important and was a life changing event. He didn’t want to let it go. He wanted to endure even thought he probably knew he was out classed and out matched.

Then He said to Jacob, “Let Me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.”

“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because
you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

This is one more case where Jacob is trying to hang on just a little longer. The angel says it is over and Jacob says… not yet… not until you bless me.

And how does the angel reply? What is your name? Come on. I really do not believe that the angel really needed to know Jacob’s name. He wouldn’t have been there if he wasn’t sent. Angels are far more intelligent than we are, so absolutely, the angel already knew Jacob's name.

So why did he ask? Was he just stalling, trying to distract Jacob, wasting time? No!

The angel was forcing Jacob into confession. He was forcing Jacob to admit his character, his sinful nature. The notes in the Holman Christian Standard bible say that Jacob means literally “he grasps the heal”. Jacob is the deceiver, cheater, trickster. The angel made Jacob confess his true nature.

Interesting side note:

Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias (www.rzim.org) commented in a speech (sorry
can’t remember which one) that this is not the first time that Jacob sought the
blessing from a father. He sought the blessing from his earthly father, an old,
blind, dying Isaac. He was then able to conceal his true identity and live up to
his name and gain the blessing by deceit. This time he was seeking the blessing
from his Heavenly Father and there was no hiding his true identity.

The act of giving a new name to Jacob seems to be a foreshadowing of the each of our conversion to become Children of God. The angel is telling Jacob that he doesn’t have to live by deceit anymore. That no longer is his character. Seems like the story of Jesus asking the prostitute where her accusers were. When she said they left, Jesus told her to “go and sin no more”.


This is Jacobs tipping point.

This is not only a factual story about Jacob, son of Isaac, but it is a story about you and me. After our struggle with God we will come to a point of decision. What is our character? Will we confess? Will we admit our sin and short comings? If so, we will be given a new identity which replaces our old one. This Christian identity will overshadow our sinful nature.


And more importantly, just like Jacob, after we are shed our sinful nature and receive our new identity we will never walk the same way again as long as we live!

Get on the Boat

This came from my pastor this past Sunday. He is doing a study on Genesis and I am really loving it. He is shedding some in site an parallels that I never thought of before. This is merely one of them. Although I have two other post that are in my drafts, I wanted to go ahead and post this.

We all know the story of Noah. He built a big boat and took a world cruise for a while in order for God to reorganize the Earth. Well, it was far more destructive than that, but we know the story.

Noah spent 120 something years, its early and I am not awake yet, building this ark. God told him that there was going to be rain and a big flood. Neither of these were something that had ever happened before. Noah even lived 500 miles from the ocean. He didn't even know what a big body of water looked like. But he was still obedient.

Now the thought that meant something to me that I had never thought of before. Our pastor painted a picture of Noah standing in the doorway of the ark looking out over the world. He would have been able to see all that was "his". His house, his land, his cattle, his crops, all of his possessions. This was the world that he new. It was his existence.

Now building the ark took obedience. But Noah was also required to be obedient to the point of turning his back on everything that he knew. He was required to abandon the world and cling to the promise that God made to him. He wouldn't have understood what this promise meant. He didn't know what the silly things called rain or flood were. He probably couldn't imagine something so devastating that would completely destroy the world and even reform the world! But still he was faced with this choice. Does he follow the world and cling to what he has been taught, what he owns, and what he knows? Or does he turn his back on all that is evil to Gods sight and get on the boat!

I fear to say in my day to day trials, so many times I fail to get on the boat. So many times I try to insert my wisdom (I know that is laughable) to correct what God is telling me. How many opportunities do we miss to get on the boat? Each moment of our lives we find ourselves at the crossroads to choose.

Will you choose to get on the boat?

Open My Eyes

Ever pray that God would give you the opportunity to share your faith or show His love? I have quite a bit. I pray that I can show and tell someone about the Love of God in both action and word.



I think that God must want to reach down and smack me in the back of the head sometimes. Looking back on recent days, weeks, months, years, my life... How many times has God presented me the opportunity to say a word about him or to invite someone to church or ask someone how I can pray for them. How many times have I walked away from a situation blissfully ignorant and in my own world never even realizing that God had placed me right there... right then... so I could praise him.



My wife is the best at this. She is my hero! She was driving back from working with a church and stopped for gas. The lady at the register was obviously having a bad day. My wife told her "I have a long drive to the airport and I really like to pray while I drive... how can I pray for you?" This opened a dialog, changed the cashiers attitude (probably changed her day) as she shared with my lovely wife the things that weighed on her heart. My wife prayed for her right there, thanked the lady and left. She then followed up in action by actually praying for her while she drove.



How many times have I been presented with the opportunity to show Gods love in such a simple way and missed it? How many opportunities have I wasted?



Lord God please don't just present me with the opportunity to show Your love but also let me see with Your eyes so I can recognize it and instill me with Your courage and boldness to act according to Your will!

What if....

Gen 3:22-24 (HCSB)

The Lord God said, “Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.

Now, I know that we can't live in the world of could've, should've, would've, but I have found myself wondering lately... what if Adam and Eve took from the other tree first?

God banished Adam and Eve from the garden because they were disobedient and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As a punishment/grace God removed the ability to eat of the Tree of Life. This kept man from living in constant isolation away from God. We have the curse/blessing that we will die and have the ability to be reunited to our savior!

But again... what if?

If Adam and Eve didn't listen to the serpent... If Adam had stood up as the moral compass of the family as he should have been and said no... What if Adam and eve ate of the Tree of Life first allowing them to live forever. How different would our bible be? WOW I can only assume, in my limited faulty insignificant mind, that God would have said "Look, man has chosen obedience and will live forever. Let us remove the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil so he will not sin and be eternally separated from Me." Book over. No need for the rest of the chapters and books of the bible. We would be listening to the stories from Adam's or Abraham's or Moses' lips now... from the lips of Jesus Himself.

I long for the day when we are reunited in paradise with our savior so we can live with Him as originally intended in Genisis 1:1.

Faith and the Obedient Heart

I was recently reading the Bible in the morning and I was reading about Abraham and Isaac.

The story was about Abraham being commanded to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. Abraham didn't appear to even hesitate.

He took his son and went to where God told him and had complete confidence. Isaac, was old enough to know something was wrong because he asked Abraham where the sacrifical animal was. Abraham responded

“God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Gen 22:8 (HCSB)

I always thought this was the standard "dad type answer" because he didn't want to tell his son "You are the sacrifice". But, then I noticed that this came immediately after Abraham addressed the servants with him.

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and
I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”
Gen 22:5 (HCSB, emphasis is mine)

Although at this point, Abraham's intention is to go and kill Isaac as a sacrifice to God, Abraham seems to have no doubt that Isaac would be coming back with him.

Did Abraham remember the Words of God from earlier?

"But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him
Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for
his future offspring." Gen 17:19-20 (HCSB)

Abraham displayed a lot of faith in the Word of God from Genesis 17. Isaac would be the covenant son. This faith told him that Isaac wouldn't be sacrificed.

Wow, I see the story, I read the promises of God. But as a daddy myself, how hard must it have been for Abraham to take that journey. The one and only son that he had... that he loved more than life itself... so ready to sacrifice it at the command of God. To trust that somehow, somewhere along the trip, God was going to stop him. Not only stop him, but provide a substitute so the sacrifice would take place. My own personal thoughts are that in this case God didn't necessarily want a sacrifice. The sacrifice that God wanted from Abraham was an obedient heart. He wanted Abraham to be willing to sacrifice everything for the name of God, nothing to be held back in reserve. The animal sacrifice was simply the method used to demonstrate Abrahams Faith and his Obedient Heart.

What have we come to?

I was recently traveling. While sitting in the hotel room, I saw a commercial. I don't remember the specifics but I remember the message.

Setting the Scene:
A family in muted drab tones ... both their dress and the coloring of the film. the entire family looked bored and miserable sitting at a table staring at the most pitiful looking meal they had ever been forced to endure.

Then the salvation... a commonly available microwave product that you can find in any grocery store, gas station or food mart.

The slogan, although I can't remember exactly, was that we don't have to be forced to eat dinner at the table and we could have a good meal while taking care of our life on the go.

Suddenly the commercial went to bright cheerful colors with everyone laughing, dancing, and having fun and while the commercial was explaining how it was better to eat on the go instead of being forced to sit and the boring dinner table it was showing pictures of the mom taking one of the kids to soccer and the dad running an errand, while the two of the other kids were doing their own thing, one doing school work and the other at some sport event with friends. The commercial portrayed all of the family members as better off with this lifestyle.

I ask, is this really the direction that we want our family to be pushed? I thought that we were supposed to FIGHT to have the time together as a family and not encourage the divide and conquer mentality.

With this mentality, is it any wonder that we have generations of children growing up with a skewed moral compass? Why are we surprised when children commit some of the most horrific actions when they do not have the Biblical Father and the Biblical Mother not only teaching but MODELING the correct behavior?

We know from science that things tend to break down unless acted upon by an outside force. Meaning they move from organization to disorganization. They move from good to bad.

God is the outside force for our lives and the life of our family. Unless we allow God to work in OUR family's life, our children are headed for more dysfunction and heartache in an even more unhealthy family unit that will have an increased chance of being a broken home with even more amoral values.

Beginnings

I have my own blog. How cool is that.

I am new to this and not really sure what to do. Half of me is excited about a new toy. The other half of me thinks... "wow, I have a diary". Not very manly.

There are times where I have thoughts and break throughs in my mind. I read something or hear something (for a thousandth time) and for the first time I get it... it makes sense. Have you ever had that happen to you? Do you ever wonder why you never connected the dots before? Well, maybe I am the only one but it happens.

Typically, I will write it down on paper, or type it in Word. Most of the time I lose the paper or end up deleting the file. Maybe this way I will be able to put my thoughts down and still be able to find them later. Who knows, I might even be able to make sense.