Have you had a Jacob moment?

[Vic_Taltrees_UK]

Jacob was always contriving. In the end he was in the biggest fix of his life. Esau was approaching with lots of men. He got his immediate family safe, then waited, worrying. Then he got wrestled. The wrestler dislocated his hip. Jacob said, “Don’t go yet - seeing as you’re strong I want you to bless me”. The wrestler renamed him Israel which means Strong With God. He soon found God was managing far better than he ever had! (Gen 32-33)

As I am vulnerable I am often in a fix. So that story is vivid for me.

If a returner or a newcomer has a quandary or a qualm on - just to pick a random topic out of a hat - say a sexual subject, how can we help them to have faith over the whole raft of things that’s probably on their mind?

Maybe they also have economic worries or struggle with past parental put-downs or abuse from teachers.

“It’s not always about what it’s about.”

How can we give them new heart? Can we show, model, manifest, demonstrate that it’s good to have a Strong One in one’s life to bless one?

 

[multitude]

Same, I’ve had so many Jacob moments in my life, and I’m beginning to recognize it.

Well, Isaac did favor Jacob over Esau. And God did favor Jacob over Esau in the end. Esau was willing to sell his birthright to his younger brother for a little temporal pleasure, like a bowl of soup. Esau is a little like Cain, he was so angry at his brother, but if Esau and Cain actually did what was right, they wouldn’t be so PO’d at their younger brothers that they feel like they wanted to declare war on them and would want to kill them.

It’s not a proportionate reaction. Obviously, Jacob was a sinner too, but when you think about that, just how unproportionate it all is, then if you relate to Jacob over Esau, then as a Jacob, it’s a lot easier to put everything into perspective.

 

[Bruce_Killian]

Vic,
I think your lead in to your question is wrong, Jacob had been growing in faith for a long time when he encountered Esau, so the question of faith has to do with how can one help someone start to become a disciple so Jacob is a bad example God had been training Jacob who was a naturally conniving person, by putting him under Laban who was ten times worse than he was. The God proceeded to show both Jacob and Laban that it is a relationship with God and His blessing that counts, not how brilliant you are at making your plan to be successful (as Laban was). Jacob had been developing that relationship and growing his seed of faith in the 20 years he had been suffering as a shepherd under Laban.

To me to help someone start to grow in faith, they need to be evangelized, by introducing them to a personal God (Who you must have a personal relation with to be successful) who cares about their problems and Who has a plan for their life, and who want to make them a part of His family. It needs to be an ongoing process of discipleship to be ultimately successful.
Grace and peace,
Bruce

 

[Kal2012]

I’ve always struggles and wrestled with my faith. Jacob is one of my Biblical heroes because he’s so much like me in this regard. He never gave up on God, but he always had to make everything a big fight.

For a lot of people, the frustrating part of faith and trying to be faithful is having sincere questions and getting trivial or cliched answers from people who are supposed to be knowledgeable teachers of the faith.

An answer that might work for one person simply won’t be a satisfactory answer for another. We need to be able to answer questions for both types of people.

We also need to be able to say that we don’t know the answer and be willing to come along side people and learn with them.

A lot of people just give up when they see that those with more experience in the faith aren’t able (or willing) to take the time necessary to help them find the answers that they want.

The short answer is that it isn’t up to us to give them a new anything. That’s up to them to choose to have a relationship with Jesus and have the Holy Spirit dwell inside of them.

A lot of times we want to do the work, but it’s really the Holy Spirit’s work to do.

However - as fellow believers - we need to model Christ in our lives and be there for people - warts and all.

People, ultimately, do have to deal with the consequences of living on Earth (which has a lot of evil in it).

It’s a lot easier to deal with when you know Jesus, but (at least in the West), your life gets a lot harder if you choose to be a sincere follower of Christ and the church.

Our “common” (for lack of a better term) culture isn’t very friendly towards traditional Christianity these days.