1 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
Because He has redeemed us and declared that we belong to Him, that has enormous implications in our spiritual life. We can know His abiding presence, and we can recognize that by faith in Christ and devotion to walking in the love of God, we can overcome fear. We have the ability to triumph over sin because of what Jesus did to sin's power through His death and resurrection. One of the key messages of Christmas is that we - can - change: God can transform us by His mighty power released in our hearts and minds!
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Our next stop on this 4-week road trip through the Advent season is a place called Peniel. It was there where God took a man named Jacob and changed his name. You're probably familiar with the story of Jacob - one of two sons of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Jacob deceived his brother Esau for his birthright and later deceived his father for a blessing.
In Genesis 32, as Jacob prepared to reunite with his brother, with an uncertain outcome, we are told that a Man (capital "M") wrestled with him - this was some sort of heavenly person, someone sent by God. We read:
27 So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob."
28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."
29 Then Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."
The name of Jacob, grandson of Abraham, was changed to Israel - the twelve children of Jacob became the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob was regarded as someone who was instrumental in the furtherance of God’s earthly plan. Jacob was a man of struggle, but who was used by God to further the lineage of His chosen people in a dramatic way - as God continued to work out His plan to provide salvation for fallen humanity.
Well, the news has been making the rounds this week about an open letter to students at Oklahoma Wesleyan University. According to a report on The Blaze website, the President, Dr. Everett Piper, opened the letter with a story. He said, "This past week, I actually had a student come forward after a university chapel service and complain because he felt ‘victimized’ by a sermon on the topic of 1 Corinthians 13." He continued, "It appears that this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love! In his mind, the speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel uncomfortable.”
Piper was only just beginning. He wrote, "I’m not making this up," adding, "Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic! Any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims! Anyone who dares challenge them and, thus, makes them ‘feel bad’ about themselves, is a ‘hater,’ a ‘bigot,’ an ‘oppressor,’ and a ‘victimizer.'" He went on to explain to students that the familiar feeling of “discomfort” when confronted with wrongdoing is called a “conscience” — and that the “goal of many a good sermon is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in your selfishness” or help you achieve “self-actualization.”
This college president offered a refreshing approach:
At OKWU, we teach you to be selfless rather than self-centered. We are more interested in you practicing personal forgiveness than political revenge. We want you to model interpersonal reconciliation rather than foment personal conflict. We believe the content of your character is more important than the color of your skin. We don’t believe that you have been victimized every time you feel guilty and we don’t issue “trigger warnings” before altar calls.He concluded, “This is not a day care...This is a university!”
Here Piper diagnosed a problem that he sees in the collegiate realm, but he offered a different point of view - he challenged students to a transformative lifestyle and a change of heart.
Humans can be self-absorbed and narcissistic, and those tendencies don't just apply to college students! I would dare say that these characteristics would apply toward Jacob - willing to trick his brother into selling him his birthright for a bowl of stew. Willing to pretend he was someone else in order to get the blessing of his father. I don't know if Jacob really thought he achieved self-actualization by his horrendous behavior, but he was a load of trouble. He may have even fit in on many of today's college campuses - all about himself, his perceived needs, his wants, him, him, him.
And, here's a guy that actually made the pages of the Bible - legendary, not because of his human tendencies, but because of God's sovereignty. He encountered God in a transformative way - at Peniel, he met God face-to-face, he said. He was the father of twelve men, the twelve tribes of Israel. He was the vessel God chose to use, despite His flaws.
So, here is someone imperfect who was in the line of ancestry to our Savior. We are imperfect creatures who have been declared to be righteous and holy in the sight of God, and He will use us, "warts and all," sort of speak. Jacob was certainly selfish; and so we can be, too, if we are living in the flesh. But, God has called us to walk in the Spirit, so that we might reflect His glory and do His will.
We serve a God who specializes in transformation. He can take us with all our frailties and flaws and give us new strength, a new outlook, and a new capacity to walk in holiness before Him. To borrow and embellish some of the words of Dr. Piper, the college president, He gives us the ability to pursue "personal forgiveness than political revenge." God grants us the capacity to "model interpersonal reconciliation rather than foment personal conflict." He calls us to a higher lifestyle as we exercise greater dependency on the God who possesses power to transform.
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