P.P.I. usually stands for ‘personal protection insurance’, the mis-selling of which has been of great interest and controversy over recent years in the U.K. Mark’s sermon on P.P.I. today had nothing to do with insurance, however, but instead looked at the pivotal point incident in Jacob’s life when he wrestled with God (Gen 32:22-32 TNIV).

In engineering terms, a pivot is the point of rotation in a lever system. A lever is a machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge or fulcrum. I’m interested in its etymology, since the word comes from the French ‘lever’, meaning ‘to raise’. When I think of a pivotal point, I tend to think of a seesaw, which is, in its most basic form, a long, narrow board pivoted in the middle so that, as one end goes up, the other goes down.

Jacob’s encounter with God in Genesis 32 was a pivotal incident in his life. Prior to this, he had been known as ‘the deceiver’, ‘the grabber’, one whose whole life had been spent in deception and selfishness. He had lied to his father, stolen his brother’s birthright and worked alongside Laban, taking what he wanted and living in a ruthless manner with little regard for anyone else except himself. He was a master con artist. The world may commend such methodology, but so far, we do not recognise anything in Jacob that speaks of righteousness and goodness. The fact that God chose him to become Israel – the name by which His people would ever after be known – gives hope to us. No one is hopeless in God’s eyes; He cna choose the most unlikely characters and through His stunning love, faithfulness and goodness, transform their lives.

At this point in Jacob’s life, everything he has ever done is catching up with him. He has lived in exile for years because Esau was so enraged with him that he wanted to kill him. Now he has had enough of Laban’s scheming and has reached the point where he must confront all he has done. He sends a bribe on ahead of him to Esau and is alone in the desert. Laban is behind; Esau is ahead. He feels he’s in a dark place, unable finally to manipulate his circumstances, powerless to control his destiny. Often, God has to bring us to this place of exhausted desperation before we will surrender and allow Him to shape our future and control our destiny.

In the midst of all this, Jacob has to spend the whole night wrestling an unknown man! It seems this encounter is more than just a human fight, for this ‘man’ (generally regarded as a theophany, or an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ) has the supernatural power to wound Jacob’s hip at a touch. Wrestling for even a few minutes is tiring and exhausting (professional wrestling usually has rounds lasting about three minutes), but Jacob had to wrestle all night. He was desperate for the man’s blessing and had to confront all his sins and surrender finally to God. Sometimes the process of struggling with God is necessary before change can occur. We have to be tenacious with God even when painfully injured; Jacob would simply not let go.

This P.P.I. with God led to great changes for Jacob. First of all, he was given a new name (the deceiver became ‘he who wrestles with God’, Israel). He receive a new blessing: God’s favour on his life meant things were never the same again. As the new day came, he saw that God works everything together for good.

Our lives, too, can be transformed by our encounters with God. Blessing often follows struggle. Life often seems messy and chaotic. We get dirty, bruised, wounded and torn in the struggle. Jacob limped for the rest of his life after his wrestling match with God, but he was changed from a manipulative schemer to a man who would forever be known as Israel. Though we may fight God in the dark of the night, a new day will come and there will be new blessing to sustain us. Surrender is not the end of the story but is actually the pathway to finding the purpose of our lives in God.

Our household is eagerly anticipating looking after a little girl called Grace for a day and the code for all our plans for this day is ‘Grace day.’ ‘What are we going to do for Grace day?’ ‘What will we be eating on Grace day?’ ‘Where are we going on Grace day?’ As we plan and look forward to spending time with this bundle of joy and vitality, it occurred to me that every day of our lives could be termed ‘Grace day’. A different kind of grace, maybe, but grace nonetheless!

One of my very favourite Bible verses which reassures me constantly is James 4:6 TNIV which says ‘But he gives us more grace.’ Grace – that undeserved favour from God which enables sinners to be reconciled to a holy God – is essential to our Christian lives. Philip Yancey, in his book ‘What’s So Amazing About Grace?’ (which I heartily recommend) says ‘Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe, and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet.’ He goes on to say, ‘God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are.’ Again, I find that reassuring, because it means I can’t do anything to earn God’s love or favour but can rest secure in the ongoing fact of His love and favour because of His unchanging nature.

When every day becomes a ‘grace day’, we are less likely to feel abandoned, rejected, thwarted or powerless. Though our circumstances may be difficult and our moods unreliable, we have a God whose constancy becomes our anchor. Every day there is grace available, sufficient grace to meet every trial (2 Cor 12:9 TNIV), grace for every need.

I struggle with being patient. I hate journeys, if I’m honest, always wanting to be at the destination so I can ‘get on’ with the next stage. Mark’s sermon has made me reflect on patience. These signs are quite helpful!

Mark challenged us to continue the study of ‘in between’ stages by doing some homework. The task we were given (our mission, if we choose to accept it!) is to read and study Numbers 33 throughout this week, looking at this chapter which details the stages in Israel’s journey from Egypt in the wilderness, to find out:

1) what God did for Israel
2) the different stages they went through on their forty-year journey
3) the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ of that long journey

Once that is done, he urged us to do a similar exercise for our own lives, looking at all that God has done for us since we became Christians, noting the different stages we have gone through and the ‘highs’ and the ‘lows’.

It’s easy for us to feel that ‘nothing is happening at the moment’ or even to feel that ‘nothing ever happens’ in our lives. Sometimes, on a journey, progress seems achingly slow: think of all those holiday journeys when you’ve been stuck on a windy road behind a tractor and there’s no way of passing them or those journeys on unfamiliar roads when you’re looking for a particular landmark and you have to move so slowly for fear of missing it that that ‘mile and a half’ on the directions seems to go on forever. Sometimes it’s only when we take the time to stop and reflect that we actually see the progress we have made. We are not who we once were; we are not yet what we are going to be, for God is still at work in us. We are ‘works in progress’ and though we may feel the progress (in our own lives, in our church, in our families etc.) is slower than we would like it to be, we do well to pause and reflect on how far we have come.

We also celebrated a birthday:

No, not the sitcom which followed the lives of four teenagers at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive… instead, Mark spoke from Psalm 23 about this stage of our lives when we feel ‘in between’, ‘somewhere between who I was and who You’re making me’, to quote Casting Crowns!

Life is often likened to a journey. Being at one destination or another is fine: not all of us cope well with the journey in between, however! Yet much of our lives is spent ‘in between’. We have to realise that every stage of our lives is part of God’s plans, even those seemingly mundane, insignificant parts.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing.”
God will lead us and guide us throughout every stage in our lives. He will care for us and will provide what we need.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside quiet waters.”
Our bodies are not designed to work non-stop. There is a time of calm and rest required for each one of us, and this verse speaks of the rest and provision God has for us. Sometimes we need ‘time out’ from the hustle and bustle of life in order to re-charge our batteries. Rest is an important Biblical principle we do well not to forget.

“He restores my soul and leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
God also provides spiritual rest for us. He renews our spirits and gives us the strength and vision we need to carry on. Many of His promises to us are yet to be fulfilled, yet we need to be aware that the ‘highs’ of great spiritual blessing and revelation often come from the ‘lows’ of ordinary spiritual life: prayer, service, and simple acts of charity. It’s a little bit like a tennis match, with long rallies between us and God as we wait for God to make the ‘ace’ or special shot which will define and shape our next steps.

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Whatever valleys we have to walk through in life, God is with us. When our mortal bodies actually die, we pass from mortality to immortality. Then we will finally reach our destination, for God’s plan is for us to spend eternity with Him and this life on earth is simply part of that shaping. When we arrive at our destination, the time that seemed so important to us on earth will seem insignificant in comparison to the wonder of being with the Lord. We need not fear death, nor any dark valley in life, for God’s presence is always there to walk with us. We never walk alone.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
There are times in our lives when we feel oppressed by enemies (physical and spiritual enemies, perhaps!) Sometimes the enemy seems to have the upper hand, but this verse reminds us that even in those times, when we feel weakened and powerless, God’s provision is such that we have a feast spread out for us and an overflowing cup handed to us. God’s miraculous provision is one thing: the fact that He does this ‘in the presence of my enemies’ shows us that He has the upper hand in all situations, no matter how it may seem to us!

“Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
God’s goodness and mercy will always follow us and lead us to our ultimate destination. Life’s journey on earth is important in that it often shapes what we will take into eternity, but we need to remember that this ‘in between’ stage is not to be despised but to be embraced.

(A song which captures the sense of struggle and frustration which often come with being ‘in between’ is ‘Somewhere In The Middle’, Casting Crowns)

Stephen spoke this morning on our personal relationship with God, reminding us that God lives within us and never leaves us.

Many of us enjoy going for walks, especially in the countryside where we can soak up the wonders and beauty of God’s creation. God enjoyed walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:8 TNIV), but that peaceful relationship was marred by sin and God’s purpose now is to see that fellowship restored.

God reveals Himself to us through His Son and lives in us by His Spirit (Rom 8:9 TNIV). Each of us can have that Eden-like experience of walking with God, knowing His protection, guidance, leadership and touch on our lives. Sometimes, however, we do not feel His presence; we can be in the wilderness (as Jesus was when tempted by the devil, but Matt 4:1 TNIV reminds us that He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God.) Even at those times when we feel alone and do not feel God’s presence, He has promised to be with us, never leaving us or forsaking us. Our relationship with God is not just in the cool of the day, but at all times: 24/7! God wants to be part of our lives all the time: not just a ‘side order’, to be tagged on to the ‘main business’ of our lives, but an integral part of our everyday living.

Having God’s Spirit with us ‘fills in’ all the holes in our lives. Just as Polyfilla fills the cracks in the walls and makes a new permanent fixture where there were holes and gaps, so God’s Spirit restores our lives:

The Christian life is not about God being an ‘add-on extra’, someone we turn to only in a time of crisis or doubt. When in a restaurant, we can have a ‘main order’ and a ‘side order’, but often the best way to experience these is together, on the same plate! God wants to be the centre of our lives, working to create in us the image of Christ, never leaving us to go it alone but always with us.