Recently
I was reading Genesis 32, where Jacob wrestles with God. The passage give us
little detail, and we are left to wonder who exactly this man was, and why He
was wrestling with Jacob! But the passage heading tells us ‘Jacob wrestled with
God’, and verse 24 simply says ‘a man wrestled with him until the breaking of
the dawn’. The bit of this passage that really struck me the most though was
verse 26.
Jacob was stubborn, refusing to give in or to let go until he had received a blessing. Another word for Jacob’s behaviour is persistent. On first reading, I viewed Jacobs refusal to give in as an unwillingness to submit to God, and thus perceived his behaviour in a negative light, however when I followed the cross references it opened up my eyes to how God saw Jacob’s actions, and how He blessed him for them.
The cross references on this verse link to two gospel passages; a parable and an interaction with Jesus.
Luke 18v1-8 tells the story of the persistent widow, a parable Jesus told the disciples so that they ‘ought always to pray and not lose heart’ v1. A brief summary of the story is that there was a widow who needed justice against an adversary, and so she kept coming to the judge in this city for his help. The passage says that the judge ‘neither feared God nor respected men’. For a while the judge refused her request, but after a while ‘he said to himself ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming’. The unrighteous judge answered her request because of the widow’s persistence.
At
the end of the passage, in verse 7 Jesus says ‘And will not God give justice to
His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell
you He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man
comes, will He find faith on the earth?’
The
second passage that is cross referenced is Matthew 15v21-28, where a Canaanite
woman begs Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus answers her in verse 24 ‘I was
sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. She kneels before Him and
again asks for His help. Jesus answers ‘It is not right to take the children’s
bread and throw it to the dogs’ (a hard part of scripture for sure, and one I’m
not going to go into right now!) Still, the woman refuses to give up. She
replies ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
masters table’.
This
precious woman humbly acknowledges her background and low standing in the eyes
of the Jews, and refuses to give up, because she has the faith to believe that
Jesus can heal her daughter, whom she so clearly loves. And Jesus rewards her
for this. He answers her in verse 28 ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done
for you as you desire’. And her daughter was healed instantly’.
These
passages clearly show us that God values persistence. Whilst in our British
culture, the actions of these two women could seem like they were nagging, or
harassing or refusing to take no for an answer. But to God, these two women
received what they desired because they refused to give up.
Jacob
refused to stop wrestling until God blessed him, and because of his persistence
he received a blessing. It is at this point in Jacob’s story that he is given a
new name.
‘Your
name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with
God, and with men, and have prevailed’ (v28)
The
word Israel literally means he strives
with God or God strives. The definition
of the word strive is to ‘struggle, or fight vigorously’, or ‘to make great
efforts to achieve or obtain something’.
Jacob’s
life had been defined by his efforts to achieve his father’s blessing, shown by
the great effort he went to in order to steal his older brother’s birth right
and blessing. In this encounter with God he had fought again, struggling and
fighting in order to receive a blessing from the Lord.
As
I look back over my life, I can clearly see a lack of persistence. If one of my
strengths is that I often to the Lord with the problems I face, one of my weaknesses
is surely that I can lack in the persistence to keep asking when I do not get
immediate answers. Still, my faith grows, because I look back at the times when
I have been persistent, and see God’s faithfulness so clearly.
About
a month into feeding Annie, I suddenly started to get a lot of pain. I’m
talking toe curling, tears-running-down-my-face pain, every single feed, and
with a newborn, that’s every few hours. It was so painful, and I prayed and
prayed that God would heal me. It was so frustrating when God did not seem to answer
immediately. I grieved my unmet expectations of what having a newborn would be
like, as I dreaded every feed and could not enjoy feeding her, the way I had so
looked forward to doing. I prayed again and again that God would give me the
desire of my heart; to enjoy feeding Annie and to have a good experience.
Then,
one day, the pain went away. I received total healing. I still don’t really
know what caused the pain. Although at the time it felt like forever, I have
now had months of feeding Annie with no pain, and it is a total joy. I am so
glad I was determined enough to keep going, and persistent enough to keep
asking God to help me. Most of all I am so thankful for His faithfulness and
grace to answer me and give me my heart’s desire.
In
the following months I would face another struggle as a new mum. Whilst Annie
had always been a great little sleeper at night (and trust me, I know how thankful
I should be for that!), she seemed to struggle with naps. I would fight to get
her to sleep on me, and as soon as I put her down she woke up. I would try and
let her fall asleep on her own and she would scream. I was so caught up in what
the internet said Annie should be doing, instead of holding her close those
first few months as she got used to life outside the womb. I struggled with the
exhaustion of no time to regroup and switch off.
Nevertheless,
I knew that I could ask God to help me and Annie with this, and that He WOULD
answer, even if not exactly as I wanted, or indeed when I wanted. I continued
to ask Him for His wisdom and help, and reminded myself of the way He had
answered my prayers with feeding Annie. (And often I cried and moaned to my
friends. Being real here!)
Today
I took Annie up to her room, read her a story, sang her a song and put her into
bed awake. A few minutes later she popped her thumb in and went to sleep. She
slept for two hours! She’s been doing this for two weeks now and it has changed
my life! Not that it goes quite that smoothly every time, and sometimes I still
hold her for naps and just enjoy those cuddles. She’s almost five months old
now, and obviously it’s taken her this long to be able to settle herself to
sleep. I wish I hadn’t spent those first few months worrying about it!
Luke
18 says that God will not delay long over us. How it must hurt His heart to
watch us hurting, struggling and feeling broken. But God knows what is best for
us.
Sometimes
when I put Annie down in her cot, she cries. I know she is full, clean and
simply tired. It is hard to hear her cry, but I know she is learning how to go
to sleep. That is a skill she needs to learn, even though I wish I could learn
it for her!
God’s
care for us is perfect, and He knows that through life’s challenges we learn
patience, perseverance and more of His faithfulness. He will not delay long
over us. He loves us far too much.
May
we learn to be more persistent, not just in our prayers for the struggles we
face, but also for others, for God’s hurting church around the world, and for those
who don’t know Jesus yet.
When
Jesus returns, may we be people who are ready to receive Him, with lives that
have mined deep in persistence, and hearts full of faith.
‘Nevertheless,
when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?’
P.s
through writing this blog I have found that I cannot spell persistence.
Thankyou Lord for spell checker. :)
