This morning’s sermon continued the ‘Battles & Blessings’ series, looking at when Jacob wrestled with God. (Gen 32:22-32) This incident profoundly changed Jacob’s life, giving him a new identity and transformed character. Prior to this, he had been known as a grasper, a deceiver (see Gen 25:21-34) who had connived to get his older brother’s birthright and who plotted with his mother to get his father’s blessing. (Gen 27:1-45) He had had to flee from Esau’s wrath and lived away from his family for years, discovering something of God’s presence through a divine encounter at Bethel (Gen 28:12-17), but also learning what it was like to be on the wrong side of deception with Laban! (Gen 29). Now he is about to return home and is fearful of Esau’s reaction (Gen 32:1-5). Immediately before that encounter, however, he has to face a mysterious man who wrestles with him until daybreak…

The wrestling match is not initiated by Jacob, but by God, and we need to remember that whatever we may think, God is the One who goes searching for the lost coin and the lost sheep. We see Jacob’s tenacity in this encounter, however, and understand that if we are to know blessings from battles, we must learn to persevere in prayer. Persistence and perseverance are not the same as pester power, but must form part of our prayer life if we are to be victorious in prayer. (see Luke 18:1-5, Matt 15:22-38, James 5:16-18) God tests us to determine our desire for Him and we must learn to keep on praying and not give up. Prayer becomes the force that moves us forward. Self-help is no good, but as we engage with God in prayer, we are in a position to receive the blessings God pours out.

Jacob’s encounter with God leads to a new name (‘Israel’, the name by which the whole nation will be known) and a new identity as one who has struggled with God and humans and overcome. We too have been given a new identity in God and those who overcome will one day receive a new name from Christ. (Rev 2:17) We are now new creations in Christ Jesus. (2 Cor 5:17) We have been given a new nature and the Spirit of God lives within our mortal bodies. (Rom 8:1-9, 2 Cor 6:19-20) We have been born again, adopted into the family of God so that we are now children of God. (Jn 1:12, Rom 8:14-17) We are no longer slaves to sin, forced to do whatever the enemy demands of us; we are free to do as God says, to live as He commands, to enter into all the countless blessings He has freely poured out. Eph 1:3 says ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.’ Those spiritual blessings are there for every single Christian to receive. Paul says that ‘no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.’ (2 Cor 1:20) Our part, though, is to speak the ‘Amen’ of faith, to claim those promises, to come before the throne of grace with confidence and boldness, just as Jacob speaks boldly and receives a new name, a new identity.

‘Footprints in the Sand’ is a much loved poem which talks of life as a journey, walking on sand, often with two sets of footprints visible (representing ours and God’s) and in the places where only one set of footprints is visible, this is not a sign of God abandoning us but of Him carrying us through the trials and difficulties of life:

Someone has written a more modern twist on the poem which goes on to say that ‘at the lowest and saddest times in my life, there was one set of footprints along with gouges and irregular lines in the sand’, the explanation for which is this is when God carried and dragged the person ‘kicking and screaming like a spoiled brat’, which made me smile ruefully because that is often how I do react, alas…

But what about the times when there are no footprints at all? Ps 77, a psalm which begins in complaining self-pity and ends in meditation on God’s wonderful works, says ‘Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, though Your footprints were not seen.’ (Ps 77:19) On our journey through life there are times when we don’t see footprints at all; the mighty waters, after all, erase all trace of footprints and there can be no ‘evidence’ at all of God’s presence. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7) These musings inspired the poem that follows.

The one set of footprints we see

Is, they say, where the Lord carried us,

But what about the days

When footprints can’t be seen at all?

What do we do, then,

When there is no trace evidence,

No footprints to follow?

Where is this guidance You promised us?

Where is the clearly illuminated path?

We trudge on in obedience,

Following the only path we see,

Wondering where it will lead.

Our scouting skills

Search assiduously for signs of Your presence,

For strategically-placed twigs and branches,

For carvings in the tree trunks,

For arrows pointing ahead,

As we frown over compressed leaves,

Trying to trace the imprint of a shoe,

The pressure of a foot’s presence.

But then we’re at the sandy shore,

Water lapping around our feet,

Vastness before us as we gaze at crashing waves.

You want us to walk through that?

Unseen footprints

Leading through impossible terrain,

Calling us to walk by faith and not by sight.

One step of faith –

The waters recede.

Our muddy footprints soon erased

As the waters gush back,

Eradicating the evidence of this tumultuous journey.

But we remember.

We’re on the other side.

There may be no footprints,

No evidence, no proof,

But our very presence here

On the other side

Shows us Your presence with us.

So walk on by faith,

When there are no footprints to be seen,

Listening alertly for the voice that says,

‘This is the way; walk in it.’

The Psalms have to be read as poetry, but that begs the question ‘What is poetry?’ Poetry uses language in a condensed form to convey layers of meaning and is often meant to be read aloud, with the sound, rhythm and form important to its effectiveness. It’s very different to the prose style we are used to in newspapers, magazine articles and novels, and tends to convey emotion and feeling as well as fact, causing us to ponder and ‘enter in’ to its meaning.

English poetry uses metre and rhyme for effect, but Hebrew poetry tends to rely on parallelism (which links two ideas and either compares or contrasts these ideas, with the repetition helping the listener to remember the points being made) for effect. This explains why there seems to be a lot of repetition at times in the Psalms (see Ps 70:1, Ps 120:2, Ps 3:1 and Ps 93.) Sometimes ideas are contrasted in pithy couplets (see Ps 1:6, Ps 34:15-15, also Proverbs 10:1-9). Sometimes the psalmists use anaphora (repetition for dramatic effect, as in the refrain ‘His love endures for ever’ in Ps 136) and inclusio (where an idea is stated at the start and repeated at the end, see Ps 118:1 & 29).

Alphabet acrostics are also great favourites in the Psalms (see Ps 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119 and 145). Each line or stanza begins with a different letter of the alphabet; in Ps 119, for example, there are 22 stanzas of 8 lines each, with each line in a particular stanza beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This signifies completion, but is also a great aid to memory!

Metaphor and simile, whereby two things are compared, are also a feature of poetry. Similes compare two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’ (see Ps 42:1, Ps 92:12), whereas metaphors compare two things by saying something is something else (see Ps 23:1, Ps 18:1-2). ‘Metaphor uses the language of sense experience to lead us into the world of the unseen.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Answering God’, P 73) By submerging us in the familiar world of things we see around us, the psalmist is able to help us to see the invisible God and understand more of His nature.

We can read the Psalms without any knowledge of poetic form and God can still speak to us and bless us. But so often, having some idea of these things can enhance our understanding of the Psalms. Instead of dismissing them as over-the-top or boring because they repeat ideas, we can see that this is deliberate and that the psalmists use language to teach us many things. We can also see how language is used to convey emotion, to express feelings, to convey a sense of awe and wonder and we are drawn into God’s wonderful world. After all, God spoke creation into being and Jesus is the Word (Jn 1:1), so words clearly have enormous value and worth!

We also had a birthday to celebrate last Sunday:

Stephen asked the question tonight ‘what proportion of God is in your life?’ God desires our total surrender to Him, but many things can interfere with that. Our earthly desires, work, family, hobbies and other things can interfere with our devotion to God, but He desires to be at the centre of our very being.

Isaiah 1:27 talks of penitent ones being delivered with righteousness. When we realise God does not have our whole heart, we need to come to Him in repentance, allowing Him to fill our hearts with His presence. Num 24:4 speaks of total surrender (we need to hear and see God in all His glory and then will fall prostrate before Him.) As we come before God in repentance and allow Him to remove the problems, we can then have a greater proportion of God in our lives. He wants more than just a ‘slice’ of our lives; He wants all the cake!

We are urged to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. (1 Cor 15:58) Submission involves surrendering our whole lives to God, so that we can stand firm and let nothing move us. It’s an ongoing challenge for us, but as we decrease and allow God a greater proportion of our lives, we find satisfaction in service.

Troubles without number may surround us; our sins may overtake us so that we are left facing all kinds of peril, but we can still be confident that as we wait patiently for the Lord and call to him out of the depths of our distress, He will hear our cry for help and rescue us. Whatever the pit is and however dark and lonely you feel, God is there with us. The psalmist said, ‘In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!”’ (Ps 31:22) and when we’re in a dark place, we often feel cut off. Yet that verse goes on, ‘Yet You heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.’ (Ps 31:22) God hears us and is our rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save us (Ps 31:2). The God who saved Joseph, Jonah and Jeremiah can also save us from our pits and give us a firm place to stand and a new song to sing. We can testify that God is able to deliver us from evil and rescue us from danger. We ask God for help, as the psalmists did: ‘Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.’ (Ps 31:2)

When we face opposition and persecution from people, we pray, ‘Rescue me from their ravages, my precious life from these lions’ (Ps 35:17) and learn to say ‘He rescues me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.’ (Ps 55:18)

When we sin and mess up, we come before God in repentance and ask for His cleansing and forgiveness: ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.’ (Ps 51:1)

When we face opposition and persecution, even though we are not aware of having done anything wrong, we take heart from Jesus’ words to His disciples: ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ (Jn 16:33)

Most of all, we are blessed because we know God’s deliverance and rescue are not dependent on our righteousness and our goodness, but on His unfailing love, mercy, compassion and kindness. Ps 44:26 says, ‘rescue us because of your unfailing love.’ Whatever our pit of peril today, we can have hope that blessings will run alongside the troubles and that rescue will come in God’s time because of His unfailing love. Our response to trials is to cry out to God from the depths and to wait patiently for His rescue.