The Call of God (Hebrews 11), Part 11

To Hear is to Worship.

Jacob had been a schemer. As a young man he had blatantly deceived his own father in order to obtain the proverbial ‘blessing’, a divine endorsement he expected would ensure his health, wealth and tribal superiority. He had maneuvered a plan to purchase the girl of his dreams only to discover he had been out-schemed by his new father-in-law, Laban. An unexpected switch found him married to the weak-eyed sister of his intended bride. Jacob had schemed with regard to the wages he earned from the equally wily Laban, and then secretly escaped with Laban’s daughters, idols, and flocks in tow to make a break from the uncomfortable relational ties. He schemed for decades to save his own hide at the expense of family, friends, and the entourage who relied upon him. Jacob’s conniving nature seemed bent on achieving his name’s meaning. He was a ‘supplanter” and ‘heel-grasper’ to the nth degree.

But God would not abandon Jacob to his own miserable misanthropic ways. He would not stand by and watch Jacob dehumanize himself, lost in the downward spiral of his foolish pursuits. God would speak into Jacob’s life in a way that was completely unexpected and counterintuitive. God would call Jacob and rename him. No more was he to supplant those he envied. Never again was he to descend to relationship-destroying deception. Jacob must replace his identity as a manipulative, cunning heel-grasper with a new identity. No longer must he try to grab the world by the tail. Henceforward he must grasp only God. Now he would be called Israel (“he wrestles with God”).

We don’t need to imagine what this new identity did for Jacob/Israel. We’re told. Genesis 35 tells us that following this mid-life christening, Israel immediately put a halt to his travels and worshiped God. And not only then, but also from then on, worship would become the modus operandi, the defining practice, of the renamed patriarch. Some time later, after exacting a promise from his son that upon his death his bones would be transported back to Canaan—the land promised by God in connection with the Covenant—Israel again is recorded as commemorating the moment with reverential worship of God. So when in Hebrews 11 the author summarizes Israel’s life, it comes as no surprise to hear that, “By faith Jacob (sic), when he was dying…worshiped…” Hearing God’s call transformed Jacob’s identity, gave him a new lease on life, a new hope after death, and a new faith in the identity-giver.

The amazing story of how God spoke words of truth and hope into Jacob’s life are relevant to us today. God doesn’t call merely one man. He is not limited to one historical setting or one unique people group. God calls all whose hearts are soft toward him. He calls us and we find ourselves being changed into worshipers. He calls us and our new identity is as His workmanship, His children, His friends, His beloved, His heirs, members of one body, sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus, overcomers, the faithful, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers, sons of God, the persecuted, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the sanctified, the forgiven and the forgiving, seekers of God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, storers of heavenly treasures, loved by God and enabled in turn to love others. Read that again and worship Him.

His call to each of us is recorded throughout the pages of Scripture. His words are life and light, identity-giving and worship-producing. Today, God calls us to live by faith, but one day our faith will be made sight.

And in eternity, each of those who have faithfully listened to God’s call will be given a new name. They will be names upon which our identity in Christ will call us to higher and truer deeds of worship that bring ever-expanding glory to the One who gave everything for us. As a result, our worship of Jesus will be transformed into something far more thrilling, effective and productive than any of our feeble heel-grasping ventures came close to approaching on curse-bound earth. The new earth will be a place where our mother-tongue will be worship.

For now, we open our hearts to listen to God and to worship Him as we are able. That is enough for now. That is faith.

Thirty-one Ordinary Prayers, #12

Prayer of Joy (Paraphrase of Psalm 126)

Lord, when I think of how You rescued me from my own foolishness, I feel like a freed captive. I was mindlessly intent on achieving my own goals and didn’t notice the hole into which I had dug myself. It became a prison with walls of selfishness, hurt, bitterness and pride before I began to recognize my yearning for home, my longing for the clean fresh air of release.

One call of Your Name brought You here. You broke down the walls, lifted me up, and brought me out of my dark place. I looked around and found You had set me among a family—brothers and sisters rescued just like I had been.

It fills my mouth with laughter and my tongue with songs of joy to think of it. Not only do I partake in Your blessing in the corporate sense with the body of believers, but Your blessing, the good You bring, is directed to me individually too. It really fills me with the deepest joy.

It’s like irrigation spreading across fields, making everything it touches green. It’s like harvest time in those fields—the land You love—the hard work is all worth it to You. Even my tears become songs of joy under the influence of Your blessing.

Not that all is rosy now. There are still the temptations—but now I know You are with me and offer me an escape.

There are still the hurts—but now Your love and comfort heal me in ways I never knew before.

And there are still the questions—but now I trust You will one day answer every one of them for me.

So no matter how hard, how heavy or how daunting the day’s events seem to be, I’m going to envision it all as seed to sow in a land You irrigate. The harvest is Yours, God. Its abundance is Yours and I’m filled with joy at the thought of it. You do all things well.

(Photo Credit: By Herry Lawford – originally posted to Flickr as Harvest, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11269097)

A NEW CREATION, Part 3

New Name

Has anyone ever asked you to ‘pass the Solanum caule inermi herbaceo, foliis pinnatis incisis’? It might be a while before they were able to fork the tomato they wanted onto their burger. Apparently, five hundred years ago, this was the name Europeans used for the vegetable (or is it a fruit?). Thankfully, it was eventually shortened to Poma amoris, and is now known as the tomato. That’s easier on the tongue.

Names are our way of identifying things by their characteristics. They are a verbal tag  attached to a mental picture we pull up when we think of that name. But sometimes that tag isn’t entirely accurate, memorable, or convenient. For that reason, some famous people have changed their names. Do you remember Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu? She is perhaps better known as Mother Theresa. Or how about Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvilli? That’s Joseph Stalin. See why they changed their names?

It’s interesting how God is in the habit of renaming people too. Abram (‘exalted father’) becomes Abraham (‘father of many’). The Hebrew patriarch Jacob (‘supplanter, heel-grasper’) is renamed Israel (‘prevails with God’). The disciple Simon (‘he has heard’) becomes Peter (‘stone’). It’s as if God wants people to know something about themselves that He already knows. He wants to change the way they define themselves because He sees so much more than they do. When God plans to work in the lives of individuals, names change, characters change, destinies change.

In a powerful moment prophesying the church age, Jesus has a conversation with his disciple, Simon Peter. He asks him what he has heard (notice the allusion to the meaning of the name Simon). Then abruptly, almost interrupting the answer, Jesus queries, “Who do you say I am?” When the disciple applies to Jesus the titles of “the Messiah” and “the Son of the living God”, Jesus commends him. He says, you have heard this, Simon the hearer, not from men but from God the Father. The influence of others must take a back seat to what you hear from God. Now it’s time for you to have a new name. I am the Rock of Ages; you will be called Peter, a stone. I am Christ; you will lead the way for those who will be called Christians. I am about to overcome Hades; you and countless others will benefit by accessing the kingdom of heaven.

Here’s where people like you and me come in. We are ordinary folk. We have not only the names given us by our parents but also names we call ourselves, names we perceive others call us: ‘handsome’ – ‘plain’, ‘powerful’ – ‘weak’, ‘successful’ – ‘failing’, ‘remarkable’ – ‘insignificant’. The list goes on. You know the names you call yourself, and I know mine. I’m guessing we tend to believe the latter rather than the former of each pair. We fear the name fits and we cannot escape it. Or in those moments when we believe the more favourable ones, our arrogance gets us into trouble.

Take heart. God is bent on expressing his creativity in us. He, the Rock of Ages sees us as chips off the old block, as pebbles through which He wants to build something magnificent. Listen to what He says.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give … a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it” (Rev. 2:17)

A new name. The One who knows me better than I know myself, has given His life to redeem mine, has great things in store for me and has a new name for me. Good-bye mistaken identities. Farewell false persona. Hello authentic epithet. The promise to overcome the old and embrace the new is just what I need. How about you?