Transforming Your Life God’s Way Part 1

in Thoughts  by Kuda 0 comments

When you are seeking a transformation in your life it often helps to sit back and reflect on where you want to go and why you cant get there. Often we have plans and ideas of what our lives should be like but ultimately suffer disappointment time and time again. The story of Jacob is a wonderful example to help you understand the journey of true transformation and God’s plan for you.

 

There is a tension that characterises most of Jacob’s life. On the one hand, God made promises to Jacob that he would provide for every important issue in his life. On the other hand, Jacob wished to deal with those same issues through his own means. This is the tension in which Jacob lived most of his life; the same tension that we go through in our own lives.

 

In Part 1 we will look at how the story of Jacob is a journey of unnecessary pain. We will also look at how God throughout the story relates to Jacob and begin to understand the truth about the journey of transformation. For the purpose of the article I will write the story as an overview. If you wish to read the whole story in detail read Genesis 25 – 33.

 

Knowing is not enough.

 

God promised even before Jacob was born that he would inherit the Promise (read 25:23). Jacob undoubtedly knew about this promise from his mother, as she would have told him all through his life. He was after all her favourite. This is a very interesting point to look at. How many times do we say to ourselves,

 

“If only God would just tell me what he wants for my life i would know what to do”. 

 

Jacob knew what God wanted for him and yet he still chose to do things his own way. Much like how we know that our parents have a plan for us and yet we still insist on making our own way. Although we may not always know the details of God’s plan for us like Jacob, we do understand enough that he wants to see us prosper, be loved, be fulfilled, and delight in his ways. However, the truth is that knowing the plan is not enough; you have to be willing to follow it.

 

Look at it this way. If your boss told you were going to get a promotion in two years if you just followed steps A, B, and C, what would you do. Probably the same thing everyone else would do which is to look at steps A, B, and C and judge whether they were “right” for you. Why, because we have to be in control. The plan can be laid out before us plain as day but unless we are willing to make ourselves vulnerable and have the obedience required to follow it, we wont. So what happens when we are not obedient to follow the plan?

 

God waits patiently for you to “get it”.

 

Jacob knew that he that he would inherit the Promise from God and yet relied on his own tricks to overstep his older brother Esau. He took advantage of Esau’s and resorted to gross deception to trick Isaac into passing the inheritance to him (27:1-40).

 

RESULT: Jacob got what he wanted, but at what cost! Esau was so enraged that he decided to kill Jacob, so he had to flee for his life to his uncle Laban’s (read 27:41-45). That was not God’s plan. It doesn’t just end there.

 

When Jacob got to Laban’s land, he met his match in the deceiver and opportunist business. Jacob fell in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel, so he hung around a month instead of the few days as he had planned. Laban noticed this, and took advantage of it to extract seven years of forced servitude for her hand. When the seven years were over, Laban took advantage of Jacob’s excessive partying at the wedding feast to smuggle his older daughter Leah into bed with Jacob. When Jacob woke up the next morning, “behold, it was Leah!” Jacob was furious: “What is this you have done to me?  . . . Why then have you deceived me?” (What irony after his dealings with Esau!) Laban insisted on seven more years labour for Rachel. After those seven years, Jacob and Laban then spent six more years trying to get one over the other over who would get the biggest portion of their flocks.

 

So because of his own scheming, Jacob successfully turned a few weeks into twenty years. He wound up fleeing for his life from his father-in-law and God had to intervene to prevent Laban from killing him. Jacob then decides he has to go back home but realises that this meant he had to face his brother. God sends angels to remind him of his promise and assure him of his safety, but Jacob in typical fashion ignores God and makes his own plan. The plan backfires and Esau sends word that he will meet Jacob with 400 men to kill him. For the first recorded time in the text, Jacob prayed to God for protection (32:9-12). But then he hatched an elaborate and self-protective plan to buy Esau off (32:13-20).

 

NOTE: FROM AS EARLY AS BIRTH, RIGHT UP TO THIS POINT WHERE 400 MEN ARE ON THEIR WAY TO KILL HIM JACOB HAS KNOWN GOD, SPOKEN TO GOD AND EVEN KNEW GODS PROMISE FOR HIM; AND YET STILL DOES NOT OBEY.

 

The journey Jacob was on was not part of God’s Plan, but he waited patiently for Jacob to understand that he was not going to get what he wanted through his own means. What does this tell us about God.

 

God teaches through consequence.

 

Many times when we are waiting on a transformation we question God’s presence. “I mean seriously does he care that I’m suffering.” However, before you question God’s love for you, question whether you are living by his plan or you’re pulling a Jacob.

 

Often (like Jacob), God lets us reap the consequences of our poor choices. Jacob lost his relationship with his brother, fled his hometown, got tricked by his uncle into wasting 20 years of his life, and on his way home manages to get his brother to send an army of 400 men to kill him. Where was God during all this; he was present the whole time reminding Jacob of his promise.

 

Even then, he had a choice, just like we do in our lives today. God won’t make you submit to him, but he will always try and reach out to you. Either you harden in your commitment to control your own life, and deepen your suspicion about God’s goodness–or you admit your inadequacy and submit yourself to God, and experience his goodness and wisdom. Jacob so far has led a life of unnecessary pain. His need to control his destiny led him to make choices that delayed God’s plan for him( a plan that he knew).

 

THIS ENDS PART 1.

 

Are you stuck in a predicament like Jacob is? Have you asked yourself time and time again Why God “lets” bad things happen to you. Have you ever said things like:

 

“Why do I keep getting stuck in dead end jobs?”

“Why can’t I have the life I want?”

“Why do things happen for others and not me”

 

If you are asking those questions, you my friend are pulling a Jacob. You’re on a journey of unnecessary pain because you won’t let the transformation God wants you to have happen.

 

In Part 2 we will reveal the transformation of Jacob  and see how God’s plan finally came together for Jacob. We will see how obedience eventually gave Jacob the transformation he needed; the transformation we all need.

 

Tell me in the comment section what you look forward to seeing about God’s plan to transform you.

 

 

 

Broken Cisterns

in Thoughts  by Jinha Kim 1 comments

Where do you go to de-stress?

Maybe you exercise, eat, watch TV, play games, call a friend, or listen to music.  At the end of the activity, do you feel refreshed?  Do you feel re-energised for the rest of the day/week?

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself feeling drained rather than rested in my efforts to unwind.  It isn’t until I come to God and His principles of re-creation that I find satiation for my thirsty soul and weary body.

But why is that so hard to do, despite our knowledge of its worth?

Jeremiah records the heartbroken lament of a God abandoned by His people.  One particular imagery really hit home for me:

“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13, NIV).

Broken Cisterns.  Hand-made containers that are supposed to retain water but are leaking.  Drip.  Drip.  Drip.

A leaky faucet can drive one crazy.  The so-called Chinese water torture works just one drip at a time.

Perhaps it is time to come to the Spring of Living Water and spend a quiet, reflective time counting our blessings…. or bursting into song and praise, making joyful noise…. or sharing the Word with others.

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live….

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”

Isaiah 55

I’m tired of broken cisterns.  I long for wholeness that only comes from the Master Potter.

 

Selah – Thoughts of a Cute Mute

in Thoughts  by Jinha Kim 0 comments

I have laryngitis; for several days, I could barely whisper.

I remember losing my voice once before during my last year at Uni.  A friend of mine cheekily called me a “cute mute.”

While I am hardly “cute” anymore, after 10 years and a baby, I have definitely been mute for the past two days.

It has made me a lot more reflective about the power of speech.

Being a literary person as well as a leisurely talker, I enjoy my words.  I like making conversation and sharing my thoughts freely.  It’s quite satisfying to be able to express myself.

So while I have been frustrated at my inability to talk, I have been surprisingly aware of my ability to listen.  It turns out that it simply takes being silent a bit longer than usual to hear a whole lot more.

As I shared in my sermon on Saturday (Mercy and Truth Kiss: The Meaning of Moses’ Mistake), I was quite reckless with my words a week ago, when we were having a miserable time in New Zealand.

This week, because each word has been quite painful to pronounce, I have been a lot more careful.  As a result, I have chosen my words more wisely.  My silence has also given the men of my house (my husband, my son, my father-in-law), occasion to talk more about what’s on their minds.  My muteness has given me insight into their needs and concerns.

The Bible has wise words to live by – James says, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.  Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can sae you.  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says. . . Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless” (James 1:19-22, 26).

I may not be a cute mute, or even an acute mute, but I have experienced the power of silence in communication.  Just as the rest notes in a musical score provide the harmony and balance needed for a great song, pauses in life to truly listen to the other person are necessary for a good relationship.

Perhaps that’s what God, too, desires from us at this moment – to pause, to listen, to be silent.

Selah is a Hebrew word used 74 times, mainly in Psalms.  No one knows precisely what it means, but some believe it is either a liturgico-musical mark meaning “stop and listen,” or an indication of a musical interlude.

Perhaps it’s a good time to be mute – Selah.

Good News for Marriage

in Thoughts  by Jinha Kim 0 comments

Have you heard that 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce, and that Christians are just as likely to divorce as non-believers?  Talk about discouraging statistics.

The good news for marriage this week is that Shaunti Feldhahn, a Harvard-trained researcher and author, has discovered that those statistics were based on projections of divorce rates in the 1970s and not based on actual numbers.

In her recently released book, “The Good News About Marriage: Debunking Discouraging Myths about Marriage and Divorce,” Feldhahn shares results from an extensive eight-year study on marriage and divorce. Among other things, her research found:

  • The actual divorce rate has never gotten close to 50 percent.
  • Those who attend church regularly have a significantly lower divorce rate than those who don’t.
  • Most marriages are happy.
  • Simple changes make a big difference in most marriage problems.
  • Most remarriages succeed.

It’s time to stop the rumours and commit to a renewed look at the meaning of marriage as found in the Bible and in the lives of the couples we admire around us.

“But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Mark 10:7-9, NKJV.