Dust Buster

He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.  Isaiah 26:5

Lately, I’ve felt as though I am wrestling with God- trying to wrap my mind around this certain thing, seeking clear insight which I know can only come from Him.  And, quite honestly, it’s exhausting.  I’m tired.  I’m done- ready to quit.  I want to walk away- not from God, but from my own lack of understanding.

That’s when I remembered a man who might know how I feel.  A man I never met, but a man I feel as if I know very well.  A man who wrestled with God.  A man named Jacob.  Reading this story in Genesis 32, I am slowly beginning to see that Jacob had a lot of struggles. 

He struggled with the truth, and wound up deceiving others to get his way.
He struggled with pride, and had a bad habit of putting himself first. 
He struggled with fear, and though he could see angels all around him, Jacob did not trust God.

I have read this story dozens of times.  My grandfather’s name was Jacob, and my son carries that name as well.  I’ve scoured the pages of my bible, eager to learn more about this man blessed by God.  But today, God made some things pretty clear.  It was a lesson that changed my thinking and pierced my heart.

Jacob did not wrestle with God.  God wrestled with Jacob. 

The word wrestle means “to grapple or get dusty.”  This was a face-to-face, close encounter with Jesus.  And Jacob got dusty.  I have this sneaky suspicion that Jacob did not want to get down in the dirt, but God brought him low.  I bet Jacob thought with all of his pride and all of his strength and all of his conniving schemes that he just might win. 

The more and more I thought about it, I realized that this was not just a wrestling match.  This was God sculpting Jacob.  And though God was victorious, He was merciful as well.  Genesis 2 speaks of another close, face-to-face encounter between man and God:

Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.    Genesis 2:7

God, in His great love, knew that there were huge pieces of stone that had to be removed.  So, the great Artist, holding a chisel in His hand, set to work on the very man He created from the dust. Little by little, the unwanted stone is removed, and then the Artist bends down and blows the dust away, leaving something valuable and beautiful in its place… new life.

It is a remarkable process to watch a sculptor at work, but I can only imagine a very different perspective from the stone the Artist has seized.  Jacob had surrendered all he owned, yet he had not surrendered the very thing God was after- his heart.  He sent his family and all of his possessions on ahead of him as he waited to see what his fate would be when his brother Esau met him in the morning.  God knew Jacob needed to be alone so that He could chisel away his pride, his selfish motives, and his unbelief. And in that wrestling match of God trying to get Jacob to let go, he found himself holding on to God- only God- and in that moment he surrendered himself completely.  After that encounter, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel which means, “God rules.”  Psalm 103 explains why it is such a beautiful thing to let God rule over our lives.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.    Psalm 103:13-14

God knew that for Jacob to become Israel, sculpting had to happen.  Getting dusty reminds us of our position and establishes God in His right position- above us.  But God, in His love and compassion, did not leave Jacob dusty, He came face-to-face with him and blew all the dust away.  Jacob’s words after his night of wrestling with God reveal God’s deeper work.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”   Genesis 32:30

No one could see God and live, and Jacob knew he had seen the face of God.  Some translations read “yet my life was preserved,” or “delivered,” suggesting that God rescued Jacob from his fate.  And God most certainly did rescue Jacob.  But a closer look reveals a deeper truth.  This word in the Hebrew language means “to take away or strip off something.”  Jacob needed a new name, because God removed the parts of the old man that kept him from being who God created him to be.  Without those pieces of stone, Jacob was free to walk in God’s purpose for his life, a new and changed man.  And the name God chose was a reminder to Jacob who ruled his life. 

I am beginning to see that this wrestling is not really wrestling at all.  It’s holding, . . . chiseling, . . . stripping.  It’s face-to-face personal.  And as any artist knows, sculpting takes time. 

Though there were many areas of his life that God had to remove, Jacob did this one thing really, really well.  He prayed.  He was afraid, and he struggled to trust God, but he prayed.  Not only did he pray when his fear overwhelmed him, he prayed God’s word.  He remembered the promise God made to him many years before, and when it got personal and he got dusty, he clung to the Promise-maker, understanding that sculpting was part of God’s plan in bringing that promise to fruition. 

“I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.  I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.  All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  Genesis 28:13-15