At the End of Our Rope (Genesis 28, 32)

Genesis 28, 32

Some people need to hit rock bottom.  They need every second and third chance taken away.  They need their safety net removed.  They need to feel the pain of the consequences of every action that they have been spared from.

That may mean leaving a rebellious teenager in jail.  That may require leaving an unfaithful and abusive husband.  That may lead to severing ties to friends who are harming themselves and others around them with the choices they continue to make.

And maybe the safety net needs to be removed from us.

Consequences of sinful actions reap destruction (Gal. 6:7-8).  But those consequences are also God's warning siren that the sinful life a person is living isn't right.  When all their tricks fail to impress those who have been burned by their results over and over again, when all their friends abandon them, when they have spent every last dime looking for crumbs to eat or a family member to sympathize with a situation they have put themselves in...and find none, pride sometimes begins to falter.

This is where we meet Jacob.  He cheated his brother out of his birthright and his blessing.  He fled for his life and made a promise to God hastily one night wanting protection and a safe return home, but he never changed his swindling ways.  He has spent 20 years trying to out-cheat his uncle of all he had.  Then he was basically chased out of his father-in-law's land protected from his consequences through the divine hand of God.

Now God is driving Jacob to fulfill the promise he made to God by returning home.  Home...where a betrayed brother has had 20 years to build anger upon anger and grudge upon grudge for unrighteous actions left unreconciled. 

Image courtesy of scottchan
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Angry family behind who won't take him back.  An army amassed by a another who has sworn vengeance ahead.  And a God who is holding the deceiver to his word...forcing him to fulfill his commitment and face the consequences of the events he has set in motion through his scheming.

Finally, Jacob is at the end of his rope.  He finally admits that the situation is too big for him.  He shares his fear with God.  He reminds him of the promises that he has received from God, but for the first time admits that he is unworthy to receive any of them.  This isn't the knifing Jacob who used every opportunity to live up to the meaning of his name "Deceiver".  This is a desperate Jacob who understands that his ways are not God's ways, they have led only to this moment on the precipice of destruction.  He actually needs God...and desperately needs Him to change the man he has become. 

So alone at night, he wrestles with God and is transformed.  He walks away from the struggle a changed man.  He is no longer Jacob "the Deceiver", but Israel "he who prevails with God".  God is no longer One to barter with, but rather the One on whom all future success rests.  And peace and rest, maybe for the first time in Jacob's life, is finally felt.

But he had to come to the end of his rope to get there.