The Face of God

Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” (Genesis 32:30 NLT)

Jacob Wrestling with God

Jacob came face to face with God, and he was finally changed by grace.

Jacob means the "supplanter" or the deceiver. His whole life, he had taken things that were rightly his in wrong ways. He acquired things through devious means rather than allowing God to give them to him. Jacob's selfishness has led him to a place where he was between a rock and a hard place. Esau, his brother, who he had swindled out of his inheritance, was bearing down on Jacob (Genesis32:6:7a NLT).  He is all alone, it is just Jacob and God; there is no one to manipulate (32: v.24). God often brings us to the end of ourselves, and then we see real change.

Jacob struggles all night with God, and as a reminder, God dislocated Jacob's hip. God knows we often forget. As the sun started to rise, Jacob knew that if he looked upon God face-to-face, he would die, yet he continues to struggle. Intuitively, he realized that life without God was not worth living. Consciously or unconsciously, he must have concluded; if I die, I must have God's blessing. If you must have God, you will.

The sun rose, and Jacob named the place Peniel "face of God." He had looked upon God, and the Lord spared his life. He finally understood grace. God changed his name from Jacob, the deceiver, to Israel, the one who prevailed with God. You cannot receive the grace of God without being transformed.

We, like Jacob, often miss God's grace because we try everything else first.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

The Value of Work

Next to them the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord. (Nehemiah 3:5 NKJV)

 

When Nehemiah was building the wall around Jerusalem, a short statement is recorded, which should speak volumes to us about the value of work.

I once led a discipleship training school for a missionary training organization. On one occasion, we accepted a student from Nigeria who had been a spiritual leader in the church in that country. In his culture, he did not serve others; they served him.

We built a two-hour work duty into our daily schedule. When there was a prayer meeting or teaching session, our Nigerian student was one of the first to arrive. When it came to work-duties, he was difficult to find. One particular Saturday, we had a workday where I labored with the students on a dirty job.  Coming back from the work detail, the student from Africa, looked into my dusty face and said, “very practical Christianity.” He was finally starting to get it. Christianity is more readily caught than taught.

God rebukes the Tekoite nobles. The commentator Matthew Henry says that “they would not come under the discipline of being obliged to perform this service. They thought that the dignity and liberty of their rank exempted them from getting their hands dirty and serving God.”

The action of the Tekoites makes it evident that they believed that specific tasks had more value than others. Our work has value because God has called us to do it, and we are a person of value doing it. Satisfaction from a job well done is a separate issue from value.  We should not seek to get value from our work but to bring value to it.

The Tekoites were operating in the ways of the world, which says you have worth according to what you do. God does not see big or little people; he sees people. He majors on why we do what we do, not what we do. Whatever task God has called you to do, it has great value if you are doing it for him. Such will free us from the bondage of the Tekoite nobles, who looked to people rather than God for their acceptance.

It never devalues you to do what God has called you to do.

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

 

Godly Sorrow

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.

(Genesis 6:5-6 NLT)

 

These two Bible verses record a tragic statement. God was sad that he had put man on this earth, which broke his heart.

The Bible teaches that God is perfect and complete; he lacks nothing. He can exist without us, yet we see that he is broken-hearted over us. We can only understand this if we grasp the difference between humans and God’s sadness.

When we sin, we lose, the loss of relationship with God or with someone else, but we experience a loss. When we sin and reject God, he is sad, not because he has lost, remember God is totally self-sufficient. He experiences sorrow because God knows we have lost. His love is others-oriented.

Worldly sorrow, being sad when we sin because of what it does to us, does not lead to repentance. Think about Judas as an example. Godly sorrow is the type of sadness over the grief it causes to the heart of a good and kind God; or to others who may not be so good. Only this kind of sorrow leads to true repentance.

You and I are the offspring of Adam and Eve, and we have inherited their self-centeredness. No, we can never be totally God-like, but we can reflect his image. The first step may be admitting our self-righteousness or any other character trait that starts with self. Godly sorrow and selfishness do not coexist. To have one, you must give up the other.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

Working and Waiting

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. (2 Peter 3:8 NLT)

It was during the 1970s when a book called "The Late Great Planet Earth" by Hal Lindsay was popular. We all expected Lord's return in the next forty years. We were mistaken, but we were only half wrong.

We always miss it when we either over or under emphasize a Biblical truth. James 5:8 (NLT) says that "You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord, is near", yet, in the scriptural passage above, a day maybe like a thousand years and vice versa. The Bible often gives seemingly contradictory teaching intended to balance our actions. Leaning too far in one direction or the other on the pendulum of working and waiting can distort Biblical truth.

We have all heard the expression; he is so heavenly minded; he is no earthly good — this idiom comes when we exercise waiting at the expense of working. Laboring without any expectation of Christ's imminent return will make us so earthly-minded that we have no heavenly vision. In nature, opposites attract each other. It is also true in the spiritual world. When we work here on earth, it creates a desire to be with him in heaven.

Conversely, when we desire to be with him, it motivates us to work here on earth. They work with each other, not against each other. It is never much fun in a playground if one end of a seesaw is always up or down.

In 2020 let's work and wait so that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com