JACOB - SATURDAY AT 4

Get in the ring!

Wrestling was always on ITV at 4 on a Saturday. Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki and Big Daddy, names to remind me of the fixed but fun moments that made me laugh. But wrestling God, whether on a Saturday at 4 or any other day, is a different matter. Jacob came off worse, did he know what he was doing?

Well, as you read his story, it seems like he did. Even his name means ‘he cheats’, which he did many times, but whatever he went thorough it seems he learnt some important lessons and was always available to God for the on-going plan for the people Israel.

Pain is definitely part of growth and we must expect it, embrace it and emerge from it – even with a limp – better equipped for the next stage of God’s plan for our lives. Jacob didn’t want to miss out on anything, he wanted to grab everything. Sometimes he grabbed the wrong things and got hurt, but that didn’t stop him chasing after God and trying to keep hold of Him.

If you are looking for God to bless you today, you may need to grab hold of Him and do some wrestling. Make an effort to keep God with you. It might be painful, but it will get you ready for the next fight and prepare you for victory. Perhaps an opportunity for reconciliation with your brother, perhaps getting ready for another adventure.

Don’t forget that Saturday at 4 is coming your way soon, but why wait that long to get stuck in with God.

Seconds out.

ABRAHAM - WHO'S THE DADDY

For me, even the name Abraham gets me excited. Why? Because he had the courage, the audacity, the ‘foolishness’, the b**ls to trust God, even when the lights were all on red. And I want to be just like that.

In Hebrews 11 it says that, ‘Abraham, when called to go…went.’ ‘Abraham, even though he was past age (what a nice way of putting it)…became a father.’ ‘Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac (his promise-laden son, his very best) as a sacrifice.’

Where are you going?

How do you do that? When the Sat-Nav tells you there is an easier route, you deliberately switch the option to the ‘God’s most dangerous route’ (with Bear Grylls voice or perhaps Morgan Freeman) and do exactly what you are told. As Carl says, ‘God graciously allows us to choose’ and ‘we can take the more comfortable path and He (God) still works through us and with us...’ But I wonder what we’ll be missing if we do?

Abraham is the Daddy. When given the choice, he took the hardest path. Jesus did exactly the same. He had to walk it alone, but He was convinced that we were worth it.

What will you choose today? Where is God leading you? What battles will you face? ‘God always finishes what he starts.’ Let Him start a brand new adventure in you today.

At the next roundabout …

NOAH - GRAND DESIGN

This was the ultimate Grand Design. Not the boat, but the man.

Noah was chosen long before he proved himself. He had made his decision to be ‘righteous’ and to ‘walk with God’ long before he hammered in the first nail, long before the first drop of rain fell from the sky.

'I know the plans I have for you'

Today and everyday there will be so much to stop you being ‘blameless’, but you have a choice, just as Noah did. God has given us the plan and the resources to walk ‘blameless among the people’, He’s given us the opportunity to build a life that will rise above the mess we see in the world today. It will be messy mucking out, it will be smelly, but for those who persevere, who end up on dry land, there will be the ‘pleasing aroma’ of a future (Genesis 8:21).

Carl says that, ‘Noah lived in a knife-edge time’ but he had ‘unrelenting faith, single-minded focus and perseverance.’ Now it’s our turn. We get to build a life that will enable others to see that Jesus is the one who saves, that they are welcome on-board. But we will have to be the ones who are walking with God, in it for the long haul, willing to build God’s Grand Design in our life today.

What is God asking you to build today? No matter how daft it might seem, get it done.

ADAM - MAN THE FIRST

I’m never quite sure how to respond to Adam’s story. Why did he fall? Why wasn’t he strong enough to just say ‘no’? He had everything yet seems to end up with nothing. And then I look in the mirror and realise that I’m Adam. He lost his place in Paradise, but, as Carl points out, he didn’t lose his desire to try again, to give it another go, to ‘press on’.

MEN WORKING

We’ve all had times when we have just had to ‘press on’, to admit that we made a mistake, to acknowledge that we’ve been thrown out of the garden and it may well be a long way back, but the road back takes our effort and commitment, our determination and dedication. Just like Adam we have to work harder than we used to but it is still worth it because God is still walking with us, He hasn’t left us, even outside the garden.

What might have been is another story that will never get written, where we are now is where we start and our choices now will determine what is written on the next page.

Will you ‘get on with it’? Will you make the most of what is ahead of you? Jesus has walked the path ahead of you and He invites you to get on it and keep going this week. ‘Paradise is returning.’ I pray that will be the loudest call for you today, even if ‘the wheels have come off.’

What do you think?