The Long Night

 When one reads the early saints and Fathers of the Church, one document that often is referenced regarding trials of life is St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul. What this describes is a time of extreme adversity, when it seems like God is silent and things look bleak.  We have all been through those "dark nights," and they are not a pleasant experience - I hate those moments in all honesty.  I have experienced more than what I feel is my share of them over the years, and while ultimately the outcome is often better than expected, it's still not something I want to recall.  But, thankfully we are in good company.  

Remember Job, that little book in the Old Testament that talks about how a man was allowed to be tested by Satan and lost everything but his life.  However, in the midst of that, Job never cursed God. I have to be honest though - I don't have the stamina of Job. I am more like Jacob in Genesis 32:22-32, when he wrestled with the angel. Many commentators over the centuries have asserted that who Jacob really wrestled with was God himself, and to be honest I tend to lean toward that interpretation myself as there seems to be contextual warrant for it.  Despite if it was an angel or if it was God himself Jacob tussled with, the important thing in this story is what Jacob did - he got God (or the angel) in a arm-lock and demanded "I won't let you go until you bless me!"  Understand the implication of that - Jacob knew something had to be better than what he was facing, and a combination of fear and impatience made him grab hold and refuse to let go until he got resolution.  The examples of Job and Jacob were different, but they had the same result - holding out for the blessing.  In Job's case, his refusal to disparage God led to his restoration; in Jacob's, it was claiming his birthright. Both these stories are in the Holy Scriptures for a reason - neither Jacob nor Job were wrong. There are times we have to hang on despite the circumstances surrounding us, but how we hang on makes us a Jacob or a Job.  A Job refuses to lose faith; a Jacob refuses to lose focus. Faith and focus are both integral, but depending on who a person is, one or the other may be emphasized more. The emphasis doesn't mean the person is discarding one for the other - rather, it means the individual has a created personality that makes a response to adversity different. The Jobs of the world will have steadfast faith that doesn't doubt or question, but the Jacobs will seek consistency and hold God to his promises. Neither of these approaches are wrong, and at times a person needs to be both.  Being a Jacob and holding God to his promises is not sinful, and it doesn't mean lack of faith - it means staking a true claim.  Let me explain that. 

There have been many popular TV preachers, evangelists, and self-proclaimed teachers who try to make the Jacob example a means of seeking selfish gratification. They will tell you to "confess" this or that, and to "claim" that Rolls Royce, 60-room mansion, or millions in a bank account because in that thinking, you can create things with your words. That is why these types of people call themselves "Word of Faith" or "Positive Confession" teachers, and why the phrase "name it and claim it" has perhaps become one of the biggest mockeries of authentic faith in recent times. That type of teaching has no Biblical basis, because the people who hold to that often do so for things that either they are not entitled to or that satisfy other desires that are not in line with God's plans. Like any false belief, at its core is an actual truth that has been distorted and manipulated by greedy hucksters often with the title "Reverend" in front of their names.  The crap they peddle sells, but it falls short. Nothing has done more harm to the body of Christ than these "preachers" preying on others like this. So, when I am talking about "claiming a promise," I don't mean the same bromide that Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, and their kind dispense.  I mean it exactly as God intended it, and there are some stipulations to that I want to discuss next.

Philippians 4:19 is a verse often cited for this, and it states a basic premise that it doesn't require years of studying the original Greek to figure out - "My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory." Note the word that stands out, needs. God knows people's needs, and if we do seek him, he is obligated to take care of us by his own promise. However, those needs do not include million-dollar checks, luxury vehicles, or sprawling estates. Rather, they mean exact that, needs. If you are short on rent for instance, it is essential to remind God that this is a basic need - shelter - and he has to take care of you. If you're down to your last drop of milk, or food to feed your cat, or need money to cover an important expense, those are needs. Those are what we can claim from God because he did promise that, and we should grab on with the tenacity of Jacob until God grants them. And there are also those things that we earn that we have a claim on - if we have work experience and education to get a job in our chosen field, then we should lay a claim to that job and trust God to grant us. This is not something that we are asking to be given on a silver platter, because the blood, sweat, and tears of our labor have already paid for it and we are just collecting on what should be legitimately ours. These are things where we can stake a claim, because they are either earned merits (apart from salvation) or they are fundamental needs. Jacob wrestled God too for a birthright that rightfully belonged to him as well - sure, he didn't gain it under the best circumstances (a bowl of lentil soup caused his weary brother Esau to relinquish it to him - Esau, if tradition was correct, had bigger issues anyway as some sources indicate he was exhausted from assassinating the first Antichrist, Nimrod), but it was still gained by a consensual agreement with his brother. Taking the context of the story just before Jacob had his encounter with God (or an angel), he was desperate and scared himself - he thought Esau was out to get him for the deception of the relinquished birthright, and in a sleepless night he needed an answer. While he probably didn't expect to get into a brawl with the Creator of the universe, he also didn't waver - it was as if Jacob knew with whom he was contending, and that is why he demanded the blessing.  And, it worked - Jacob got a name change (Israel) and the promise it was all going to be fine. Turns out it was - Esau wasn't looking to harm or kill his brother - he wanted to have a happy reunion with him, and that they did. There is a whole other lesson that could be just on that - the things we feel most threatened by tend to work out better than we expected, so why do we fret over them?  Again, Jacob was just coming to collect on something that was already his to begin with, so he was not expecting to be handed a fortune on a silver platter. He staked claim to what was rightfully his.  

I know I will probably get some flak from the false altruists who seem to think that if you don't suffer and are miserable, then somehow you are less "holy." God never wants us miserable, and misery is ultimately not from him - he may allow a season of it, but it is not meant to be a measure of holiness. For those who think otherwise, they embrace a heresy of salvation by works - self-inflicted suffering doesn't make anyone more holy, and in fact, it may have the opposite effect of making the one who engages in it pompous, self-righteous, and judgmental of others who don't live to their standards. That is the major flaw of groups like the more strict Holiness and Pentecostal sects - they think that if you deprive yourself a Pepsi, or if you don't wear certain clothes, you will somehow be more "holy." Honestly, who cares if you enjoy a Pepsi or not - consider the Pepsi a small blessing maybe! God will not send people to hell over drinking Pepsis or wearing make-up if you are a woman - those are not sins in themselves, and I think God has bigger priorities than that. God is also not against economic stability or having a few nice things either - as long as those things don't become an idol to someone, it's fine. And, if you earn it, enjoy some of the fruits of it. This works-based spiritual merit that I hear Christians across denominational traditions spout is a bunch of garbage too, and in many ways they are no better than their "blab it and grab it" rivals as they are promoting essentially the same thing without realizing it. So, to both the over-claiming "positive confession" crowd and the fake altruists, you both need to find new hobbies.

The bottom line is that when you are waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and things look bleak, there comes a point in human limitation when you want answers. The example of Jacob tells us it's OK to hold God to certain promises, especially when it may involve the salvation of souls - there are people only you can reach out there, and because John 3:16 applies to every human being on the planet, God has a promise to keep to them too, and therefore your hindrance is their hindrance. Remind God of that, as the soul is ultimately the thing God wants us to freely give him, and Christ's Passion and Resurrection gives us the chance to do just that because we cannot do so of our own effort - no one can repay the debt of concupiscent sin; only Jesus's Blood can do that. So, when we pray for what we need, we may inadvertently be petitioning for the needs of some others too - the ones God called us to. Remember that, and keep your focus as you rightly hold God to his own promises.

Thank you for allowing me to share again today, and will see you next time.