8.3.08 "When Our Wounds Become Blessings"
The Rev. Dr. Garry Cox
August 3, 2008 “When Our Wounds Become Blessings”
This morning’s text from the Old Testament is a vivid story of how one of God’s faithful people encounters God in the midst of a struggle and though wounded in the encounter, becomes stronger for it. Jacob is traveling through the desert with family and possessions in an attempt to reach his brother Esau and be reconciled to him. This has been a long and difficult relationship with his brother and the coming encounter with him brings up quite a bit of anxiety and may be the cause of his sleepless night and the mysterious encounter with a man who turns out to be at least an angel of God or God himself. The encounter is in the form of a wrestling match or brawl with the man all through the night. At the end of the encounter it seems to have been a draw until the angel puts Jacobs’s thigh out of place and thinks the battle is over. Jacob however, who is a very persistent character in the drama, will not let the angel go until he gets a blessing from God. The blessing that God offers is in the form of a new name, Israel, which means “The one who strives with God”.
I see this story as a parable for our lives as human beings. Our lives are filled with encounters of this sort if we see our trials and tribulations in life as an ongoing wrestling with God and striving to live a life of blessing and abundance. No one has ever lived a trouble free life. Things happen in life that we do not anticipate or expect, especially if we are trying to live a life of faith following God. So this story surprises us to hear that Jacobs struggle is with the very God who has promised to lead him toward the Promised Land. To me this equates with the understanding we have of God, that God created all things including the laws of nature, i.e. hurricanes, fires and yes even the people in our lives who can cause a lot of grief. With this understanding of God’s natural order of things we must reconcile the loving nature of God in Christ and the sometimes distant God who lets us struggle with the daily issues of life along with the sometimes catastrophic events that threaten the very life God has given us.
I won’t attempt to explain this paradox of life, it’s often a mystery to me why the innocent should have to suffer or why some people seem to encounter a disproportionate number of disasters in their lives. But as we look at this story we may get some insight about what happens in our lives as we seek God’s blessing and relationship. One of the elements of the story is that indeed God is part of the struggle. Whether God appears as a man or an angel or God himself, God is intimately connected to the struggle. The God who created the hurricane is present in it, and as we see in the conclusion of the struggle is able to bless the experience. Jacob comes to be remembered as one who endures the struggle and finds in God a blessing for his new life.
So given that life has its share of trouble and struggle how we deal with it determines the ultimate outcome. In working with people during times of crisis I have seen several ways of coping that people generally adopt. The first I would call the “Resent and endure” strategy. In this case people who have endured the shock and disappointment of life changing events often cannot accept the reality of how their lives have been changed by the experience. For someone who has lost a loved one or who has gone through a very traumatic divorce or possibly been the victim of a tragic accident the shock and pain of the experience forces them to shut down in order to minimize the pain they have experienced. In these situations people often suffer the loss of the life they had hoped would be theirs. We each develop a vision for our lives, what we will do, the relationships we will be in, the dreams we have for a healthy, productive life. When those plans are altered by a traumatic life experience we often loose sight of the possibilities for a new way of seeing our lives. The shock and pain of the experience can blind us to the power of God that is available to create a new life. In the story of Jacob and the angel, Jacob holds on to the one he is wrestling with until the angel gives him a blessing. The blessing comes in the form of not only a new name but the possibilities for a new life. The old life he has lived is gone, he will limp the rest of his life, but the possibilities of new life for himself and his descendents come because he now knows that his relationship with God although sometimes contentious, and with the real possibilities of new struggles, will always have in it the presence and ultimately the blessing of God. Israel as a nation has experienced exactly that kind of history throughout all the centuries of their relationship with God.
What happens for some though is an inability to see the possibilities and the blessing and a continuation of the mourning and grief over a life that is gone. The grief may turn inward and be a long standing anger at God for not being fair with them in their lives or resentment for those who may have been party to the crisis. They may spend the rest of their lives mourning the loss of their lives.
I believe that God can turn this grief and anger into hope and recognition of new life. Jacob was strong in the midst of the struggle and was blessed. We can recover the lost blessing in the situation when we hold on to God and renew our struggle to know what the new vision could be like for us. In the story we know that from the earliest days of peoples relationship with God there is the possibility of blessing, if we are willing to hold on.
The other strategy I have seen in people who are working through a crises point in their lives is that like Jacob, they continue to look for the silver lining. They are “The Blessing Seekers”. They trust that God is not only in the situation but that God will offer a blessing in the new life that emerges from the disaster. God as creator puts the resources of God’s creative energy to work as we look for new possibilities for life. For “the Blessing Seekers” there is a time of mourning for the plans they have made and the life they thought would be Theirs but they are able to let go of the old vision and move toward the new life that can emerge out of the situation. Herein is the whole difference between people trusting God and people giving up on God and literally giving up on life. In the first scenario there is bitterness and resentment, a cynical fatalism about how the rest of life will go, versus the second scenario where people let go of what is past and focus on the new name they are given, on the new life that is possible. God does not offer us a trouble free life but does offer us a life with continual opportunities to create and recreate our lives. This is also the central message of Christ’s life; God offers us new life possibilities empowered by God’s love for us.
Story of Ada Peoples and her three husbands.
One of the most beautiful powers that come out of enjoying this kind of blessing from God is that our personal life witness to the power of God becomes a part of how we see the world. Jacob understood that his striving with God made him stronger even though he would always walk with a limp. Our experience of trauma and crisis and the following reorientation to life makes us stronger in the face of life’s challenges. It also provides us with a story of how good God is in blessing us. More witnesses to the power of God in ones life come after we have endured a trauma and have come out stronger for it.
What is your new name?…
cancer survivor,
person in recovery,
strong after a bankruptcy,
good citizen after a bout with the law,
healed and moving on after divorce,
courageous after a serious injury.
Every one of us in this room has a story of new life. We will meet people in our lives that may be going through a similar trauma. This is the good news they would love to hear, that God is with them, and for them, even though it may not seem like it now. God will be with them and bless them in the days to come as they move through the situation toward a new life.
This may not be an externally caused event but a similarly destructive situation caused by our own choices and weaknesses. God forgives, God gives us a new name, “saved”, and God leads us out of an old life toward God’s blessed future. Regardless of the situation God is with us for life, to offer the blessing of love, courage, vision, creativity and a community of support for the road of life. We will be able to celebrate each day of our lives with deep joy and confidence, knowing that God is with us even in the valley of the shadow of death.
What was your crisis, or what crisis are you presently in? Stay with the struggle and ask God to be with you in it. Ask God for a vision, a new blessing for your life. Don’t let the anger, the pain or the confusion of your situation blind you to the promises of God. There is a community of faith here to support you, who have probably gone through something similar and can help you sort things out. Actually this entire group is working at being the body of Christ in the world. We are using the creative resources of God to envision and embody the loving realm of God. Join us as we live into our new name “Blessed of God”.
Let us pray…
Gracious God, we are your people, we trust your love to be with us in the midst of life and especially in the midst of strife. We ask that you help us to hold to your promises, and bless us with your creativity and strength. Be with those who may be in the midst of a crisis and help us to be present to them with your love. We ask it in the name of our lord Jesus Christ, who is life forever.
Amen
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