When is Good a SIN?
Too many times we give up just before we have a breakthrough. How many times in my life have I wanted to give up? Many, many times!! My wife will a test that there was a time in our marriage that both of us were ready to give up. The enemy had been causing problems and it seemed there was a continual battle between the two of us. We were at our wits end and ready to throw in the towel. The only problem was that the both of us were to stubborn to do so. Neither one of us was willing to be the one to give up.
There is a similar description of a struggle in Genesis 32:24-32, " Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank." (NKJV via www.biblegateway.com)
In this section of scripture Jacob was struggling but he was not willing to give up!! He knew that he persevered that there was going to be a breakthrough on the other side. Rebecca and I knew that we were never called to give up on each other!! We were called to persevere in our marriage and the just as the Lord blessed Jacob, He has blessed Rebecca and I. I am not going to say that our marriage is perfect by all means but what I will tell you is that our marriage is 100% better than it was some 20 years ago. I also must make one confession! The greatest reason that our marriage is so much better now than it was then has some to do with us but more to do with neither one of us. It has to do with our relationship with the Lord. You see 20 years ago I was a Christian and had been since I was 15 but I was in a rebellious state in my relationship with the Lord. I was not walking in step with Him and was not following His mandate for my life. Rebecca she had just come into a relationship a couple years earlier and was growing in her new faith. so there was a struggle there because she was trying to serve the Lord and I was doing everything to try and not serve Him. It was not until she and I both got our personal relationship "right" with the Lord were we able to get our relationship "right" with each other. I believe that we can also see this same progression with Jacob and his encounter with the angel (God). It took him changing and then the Lord changes his name from Jacob to Israel.
Where are you in your relationship with the Lord today? Where are you needing a breakthrough? Maybe it is in your personal life, maybe it is in your relationships, maybe it is in your spiritual life? Don't give up!!! Yo maybe closer to a breakthrough than you realize!! What if Jacob would have given up before he should have? We probably would not even know his name and for sure we would not know his story. So let me answer the question that I started this with, "When is Good a SIN?" When God wants to give you His Best!! Stay the course and keep hanging on.
God bless you,
Pastor W. Dee Daniel