Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Jan 26 2020 - Luke 12:8-34 – From fear to faith

The passage we have read this morning begins with the exhortation, "do not worry" (Luke 12:11), and ends with similar encouragements: "do not worry about your life..." (12:22); "Do not be afraid, little flock" (12:32). And Jesus tells us why we should have such fearless confidence; we have a heavenly Father who loves us and who is committed to our care.

Our daughter has always been a devoted mum who took care of every need of our granddaughters when they were young. But that did not stop them fretting and, at times, crying frantically. As babies they had not yet grown sufficiently to understand that they were deeply loved and well looked after. If mum is out of sight even for a few moments they would get fretful, fearful that they had been forgotten or abandoned.

All of that is natural behaviour in babies. But why does such behaviour persist in grown adults? We so easily become worried and fretful. We forget so quickly the way God has cared for us in times past. We fear that he has forgotten us and abandoned us. We yell and we rage.

And then we begin to devote ourselves to our own care. We store up treasure to safeguard our own future forgetful that we have a Father who has promised to care for us. We hold on to what we have rather than being generous with all that God has given us.

Jesus tells the parable of a man whose fields one year produced an abundant crop. Now at last he felt that he was secure. He could build a few more barns, store away his bumper harvest and live well on the proceeds of his sales year-by-year for the rest of his life. He is confident that he has no more worries. He has made it. But, says Jesus, this man has failed to reckon with one important factor; that very night he was going to die. How would his great fortune help him now? He had planned for many years of life; he had failed to prepare for death.

Jesus warns us, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions" (12:15). He urges us to be generous and to invest in the kingdom rather than following the self-preoccupied patterns of this world; "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (12:34).

The point is not that we should be heavenly minded and have no concern for the things of this world. Jesus is teaching us to view all that we have – and work hard for – as gifts from God. God cares for us and will provide for us. But it is not that we are to sit back and do nothing, expecting heaven to rain down its riches upon us. Rather we go about our daily work in a sense of dependence upon God. We recognise with thankfulness that all we possess is given us by him and is to be used not merely in self-gratification but for the glory of God and the blessing also of others. Jesus is teaching us to have a right attitude towards earthly possessions, one which neither despises them nor is preoccupied with them. He calls us to a life based on confident trust rather than on worry and fear.

Heavenly Father, help me to rest content in your care for me. Help me to recognise that all I possess comes from your hand. Help me also to remember that I am not my own, I have been bought with a price. In a spirit of thankful confidence, help me to show your love to others through open-handed generosity rather than being constantly worried about my own welfare. Help me to know that, even when you seem to be far off, you are still with me, still caring for me. Your love towards me in the Lord Jesus assures me that I shall never be abandoned.

Jan 26 2021 - Wrestling Jacob by Charles Wesley

Come, O thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see!
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell Thee who I am,
My misery and sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on Thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?
Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold!
Art Thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of Thy love unfold;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable Name?
Tell me, I still beseech Thee, tell;
To know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

'Tis all in vain to hold Thy tongue
Or touch the hollow of my thigh;
Though every sinew be unstrung,
Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

What though my shrinking flesh complain,
And murmur to contend so long?
I rise superior to my pain,
When I am weak, then I am strong
And when my all of strength shall fail,
I shall with the God-man prevail.

My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall, and yet by faith I stand;
I stand and will not let Thee go
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if Thy Name is Love.

'Tis Love! 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love Thou art;
To me, to all, Thy mercies move;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see Thee face to face,
I see Thee face to face, and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

I know Thee, Saviour, who Thou art.
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend;
Nor wilt Thou with the night depart.
But stay and love me to the end,
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

The Sun of Righteousness on me
Hath rose with healing in His wings,
Withered my nature’s strength; from Thee
My soul its life and succour brings;
My help is all laid up above;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till life's short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness I
On Thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from Thee to move:
Thy nature, and Thy name is Love.

Lame as I am, I take the prey,
Hell, earth, and sin, with ease o'ercome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
And as a bounding hart fly home,
Through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

Jan 26 2019 - Genesis 32:1-32 – Wrestling Jacob

Jacob has returned a wealthy man with large flocks and herds and servants and with eleven sons born to him by his two wives and their two handmaids. On his way home the angels of God met him (Genesis 32:1); the angels who accompanied him when he left home were with him also on his return journey to ensure that he is kept safe in accordance with God's promises.

But Jacob is afraid that brother Esau will still be angry with him and intent on doing him harm. Soon he learns that his brother is coming to meet him with 400 men (32:6). Jacob is now very afraid.

First he takes practical action, dividing all that he has between two camps so that if Esau destroys one, the other will be left to him. Jacob then turns to God in prayer, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,' I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant… Please deliver me from the hand of my brother … for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, and the mothers with the children. But you said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'" (32:9-12).

Note that Jacob knows that he has nothing to plead before God except the promises that God has given him. Tricky Jacob has come to the end of his own resources. He knows that he is not deserving of God's blessing, but that God has promised to bless him, and he clings to these promises and lays them out before God. He places all his confidence in the unfailing love and faithfulness of his covenant making and covenant keeping God.

Jacob sent his wives and family and all that he possessed ahead of him to meet up with Esau. Now alone, in the evening, Jacob began to follow them. But he was met by a 'man' who laid hold of him and wrestled with him all night long. It was as if someone was seeking to prevent his return to the land the Lord had promised him.

As dawn broke, the 'man' touched Jacob's hip and it was put out of joint. Still Jacob would not let him go but demanded that this 'man' whom he now recognises in some sense to be divine, should bless him. The blessing Jacob receives is to be renamed Israel – one who wrestles with God.

Jacob imagined that Esau was the only one standing between him and the possession of all that God had promised him. The night of wrestling taught him that if he was to inherit the promises he must deal with God himself – he must, as it were, wrestle the promises from God's hand. God would have Jacob to know that it was not good enough for the blessing to have been pronounced over him by his father, he must be serious about seeking it from God himself.

But note how gracious God is in dealing with Jacob. Like a father wrestling with his young child, Almighty God wrestles with Jacob and allows him to have the upper hand for the greater part of the contest. Only as dawn breaks does he show his power by disabling Jacob with a single touch. Jacob is forever marked by his encounter with God.

Jacob's new name will not be his alone; it becomes the name of the people of God – the children of Israel. They are a people who wrestle with God.

God of Jacob, thank you for those times when you bring me to the end of my own devices, for you have taught me that when I am weak, then I am strong – for I am dependent upon your help. Thank you for your many great and precious promises. Teach me to make your promises the foundation of my prayers. Teach me what it means to wrestle with you and refuse to let you go until you bless me. May I be someone who is marked by my encounters with the living God.

P.S. You may be interested to read the meditation on this incident written by Charles Wesley in the form of a Christ-centred poem: Wrestling Jacob

Peter Misselbrook