Sunday, January 6, 2008

Wrestling with God


Our Pastor's first sermon in 2008 was just what I needed. He ended with this sentence: "If you're limping in 2008, it's OK." He has such profound and uplifting statements from God's word. That's why I return each Sunday. The church is so huge and I don't know a living soul except for a handful of people. There are 3,600 people who attend, during 4 different services. It's hard to believe.

His subject was on the account of Jacob wrestling with God, in Genesis 32: 22-32. The points outlined were:

1. The struggle is with God, not man.
2. Struggling with God can be grace.
3. Struggling with God can lead to insight.
4. The result is our destiny and our blessing.

Worry is a lack of trust in God to oversee all aspects of my life. Isaiah 45:7 "I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things."
Proverbs 16:33 "The lot is cast into the lap but its every decision is from the Lord."

The Pastor told us something that happened last week as he was driving his son across the border, to fly to a dangerous place for a missionary trip. He didn't want to let his son go to such a dangerous place, and wasn't trusting God to take care of his son, and was anxious and worrying about it. The border guard asked why they were going into the US and they told him. He asked them if they spoke Spanish and they replied no. The guard began to speak in Spanish for a few minutes, then asked them if they knew what he'd said. Of course they didn't. He'd quoted Philippians 4: 6 & 7 "Do not be anxious about anything..." Wow.

Profound thought:
The thing you want God to take away is the thing you need in your life.