Bibledoorajar Speaks of Being Honest About Ourselves

     Bibledoorjar is on the road and today is visiting with a nephew and his family. Our great niece, Hannah, is six and she loves to teach school and put on plays. Visiting family joins with Mom and Dad to be successful actors or good students. Today, following a play in which Mom and Dad were actors and the aunts were the audience, the parents were declared great actors. When the aunts were placed in acting roles, we were declared SO BAD. It seems we couldn't even pretend to be a good SnowWhite or a wicked witch!
     For twenty years or so, God had been working with Jacob revealing to him his need for spiritual development and for more reliance on God's wisdom. For twenty years Jacob has vacillated between scheming and deceiving and learning to pray to God for His help. Sometimes he was great at scheming and sometimes he showed promise at relying on God. How patient God was to not give up on Jacob. Jacob was His man, called to carry out a great role, patriarchy,  in the history of God with people. Therefore, God did not give up on him even at times when there was more acting than spirituality.
    God wants to move us all away from trying to deceive others with our spiritual "acting" to a more honest and less pretense a confession that we still fall prey to scheming and deceiving. Thank Him for every time He helps you with this. Thank Him for His faithfulness to continue to help us. Esau may be before us, but we have a Great Helper in the Holy Spirit. He will complete His work, but He delights when we recognize the need for it. I have told Hannah today that it's not so much if what we say is "what can I do about....? but rather, Lord, what do you want me to do about...?" Lord, thank you for helping us with this lesson of life.

Bibledoorajar reflects on a Name

Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. At first, it looked as if he was prevailing, but then Jacob realized he was not and, as he lost natural strength, he clung to the Angel. The Angel could have thrown him off but Jacob was allowed to cling to Him. At that point, when all his natural strength was subdued, God told Jacob that He was giving him a new name. Instead of Jacob, the Supplanter, one who can best life by force or treachery, he would be known as Israel, Prince of God, one who walks in the strength of God. At Peniel (face of God), God showed Jacob what He had not shown him before. He showed him His love reflected in His strength. God was pleased that Jacob had shown his strength to both God and man and had prevailed. Jacob wanted to know His Name, but God simply answered, "Why are you asking My Name?" But there in that place face to face with God, Jacob was blessed.

Jacob had been touched by the Hand of God and though he wiggled and squirmed, he eventually gave in and let God love him. Isn't that what we all have to do on our journey to our final habitation? As the song says, "shackled by a heavy burden, 'neath a load of guilt and shame, Then the hand of Jesus touched, And now I am no longer the same. He touched me, oh, He touched and oh, the JOY that floods my soul..."

At this meeting with God, here is what the scripture says:

    "Jacob called the place Piniel, 'because I have seen God face to face, yet my life is spared.' As the sun rose upon him he went on past Piniel limping at the hip. This is why, to this day, the people of Israel do not eat the thigh muscle that passes along the hip socket--because the man struck Jacob's hip at its socket (Genesis 32:30 ff)." Jacob was limping and knew he could not be a Prince of God without His help but there was joy now in his heart.

Jews who remain kosher reflect the act of meeting God by observing this food restraint. Believers, who have been touched by Jesus know they cannot be a joyful servant of God who honors Him without His help. But now, we know just how much He wants to bless and help us as we stay on the path. He's wonderful!

Bibledoor ajar supports Aloneness with God for true transformation

" We purchase books on how to get transformation. We invite speakers, invent programs and make noise as the prophets of Baal did to get God's attention. Perhaps at best we get a splash of what we are looking for, for a day or two. But on the following prayer meeting, we often look in vain for just one of the new converts who were at the altar last Sunday. Too often once again we are forced to say with Jeremiah: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. (Jer. 8:20). Enduring transformation seldom occurs unless a man has a personal, private, protracted encounter with his God on a regular basis."

                          Reimar Schultze

God knew that Jacob needed a real breakthrough and understanding of the blessings he was being granted by his God in order to face his foremost enemy. Passivity, or especially his natural conniving, would not lead Jacob into the fullness of his inheritance. It is sometimes very difficult to realize how little we speak the truth, how devious and lying we can be to attempt a status in life, even a spiritual one, but these are the very attributes with which the Spirit of Truth has a problem. We all want to be more spiritually assertive in the face of our "enemies" and the enemies of the Kingdom, and we would do well if we could ponder the source of true spiritual ability. May we see what Jacob saw--a renewal of strength and truth that can come only by securing it supernaturally. The last thing Jacob needed was to approach Esau without joyful vigor received from God. Only this vigor would free him from the thoughts of being confined by the strength of Esau.

Jesus had many enemies within and without the religious community while He carried out His ministry. Yet, He resisted the "holy" men and confronted all enemies of God with a joyful vigor stemming from His undeniable relationship with God. Yes, meeting Esau was a challenge for Jacob, but it was a challenge on the road to a greater place. He was not being called to share the glory of Jacob with Esau, but rather the glory of his God. This is what Esau needed to witness. Indeed, this is what the world needs to witness as the enemy tries so hard to destroy our destiny. Try to envision the vertical and horizontal relationships that Jesus prayed for and so wanted the world to see. (The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as you loved me. John 17).

Bibledoorajar Looks to Our Path Being Ordered

Jacob has been following a path established by God. By his prayers, we know that he realized he had been called to have a covenant relationship with God. We know that he had been given many wonderful promises having to do with his new relationship, the spiritual one. There is little doubt that Jacob could not see how God was in his life, but we still see the glimmers of the natural man striving to order his path as he sees fit. He had tried to order the path to Esau with natural efforts, but it seems that at this juncture, God allowed it but is having none of that! In one last valiant protective effort, Jacob sent the wives, the maids and the children over the brook Jabbok which means interestingly enough, "emptying". Now, it appears, Jacob is just  where he is wanted--alone with no more options, except with God. While alone, a man appeared and began to wrestle with him. How long did they wrestle? They wrestled until Jacob no longer had strength, but could only lean on the Man for support. At that moment of release, the Man touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh causing the natural man to have a limp.
Who is powerful enough to master human impulses? This story answers that question. The angel of the covenant--Jesus Christ. Do you consider it a wonderful prize to have found yourself completely leaning on Jesus? Do you walk with a "gimp" and are grateful for it?  Probably all of us who have truly received the gift of salvation can remember our time "on the ropes" when we learned to truly lean on Jesus for we were out of strength to do it on our own. How wonderful when that grace truly emerges in our lives at times like this and we gladly draw our strength from Him.

      "Tarry with me, O my Savior, For the day is passing by,
       See the shades of evening gather, And the night is drawing nigh.
       Tarry with me, blessed Savior; Leave me not till morning light;
        For I'm lonely here without Thee: Tarry with me thru the night."

                                                  Mrs. C.S. Smith, circa 1852

Bibledoorajar Says Follow Your Path

"My calling is quite clear to me. What God will make of it I do not know....I must follow the path. Perhaps it will not be such a long one. (Phil. 1:23). But it is a fine thing to have realized my calling...I believe its nobility will become plain to us only in coming times and events. If only we can hold out."

                      Dietrich Bonhoeffer On Approaching Fears About the Nazis and the Church

Jacob had realized the path that he was on. Like Bonhoeffer, he was not sure how long or how difficult that path would be. He had done some things he knew to do and had prayed for God to help him. We can read the account of his prayer and know that his words were good, but only God can look on a servant's heart. Only God can see the path clearly. Jacob did the last thing he knew to do. He sent an emissary with a gift for Esau with the hopes that his men would present it with all humility. He went so far as to coach them as to how to present the gift. It is not a bad thing to try to make friends with someone who is angry with you and it is a good thing to be the emissary for the one offended.

Jesus humbly came to earth as an emissary for an offended God. He presented the gifts of God for three years and then He gave the greatest gift of all--His life. He handled being an emissary so well that God said He was well pleased with his representation of Him. The gift was accepted--job well done even though the path was extremely hard. A way had been made for you and me to live in peace with the Father. We can go home without fear. Thank you Father for a great emissary. Praise His name!