Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story! Genesis 32:30 (MSG)
Thank You – Jacob Series – Part 7
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
I haven’t been able to get Alanis Morisette’s song, “Thank U” out of my head. I listen to it LOUD most mornings, singing (kinda…) along with it. The chorus lyrics are:
“Thank you India
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you silence.“
And I can’t stop singing it.
Alanis shot to incredible fame very quickly and struggled with it early on. After her first album, she took some time off, went to India, and did some self-care: she worked on her heart. She began to be thankful for her struggles and triumphs alike. Her triumphs would not have been so if it weren’t for the struggles. They all unveiled gold and beauty within her.
I’ve been through some stuff… and I know you have too. I’m learning to be thankful for those times of struggle. I’m learning to be thankful for my travels, my terror, disillusionments, frailties, consequences and more… because when everything is silent, and I’m face to face with myself and God, it's the sum of ALL of those things that make my life beautiful. Not a fake plastic beauty, but rather “I’ve been through the wrestle, and I’ve come out the other side” beautiful.
Yep, maybe with a metaphorical limp like Jacob. Yep, maybe with some scars and a hard-to-tell story. But I’m thankful for them both. The limp and the scars tell a story too precious for words; one that can only be shown in the living, by grace and redemption.
When Jesus rose from the grave after he was crucified, and appeared to the disciples, he had scars on his hands, feet and side – the places he was tortured and physically broken.
Think about that. The guy who conquered death couldn’t erase a couple of scars?
Or maybe he kept them for a reason.
Richard Rohr writes:
“When life is hard, we are primed to learn something absolutely central. I call it God's special hiding place. The huge surprise of the Christian revelation is that the place of the wound is the place of the greatest gift. Our code phrase for this whole process is “cross and resurrection,” revealing that our very wounds can become sacred wounds, if we let them.
No surprise that an unjustly wounded man became the central transformative symbol of Christianity. Once “the killing of God” becomes the very “redemption of the world,” the pathway was revealed. Forevermore the very worst things have the power to become the very best things. Henceforth, nothing can be a permanent dead end; everything is capable of new shape and meaning.”
Jacob was a man of many struggles. But he learned how to face them, live through them, and come out the other side. He learned the value of taking the struggle to God and wrestling it out with him. And then, he learned to bare his scars with grace and value. Jacob is the only person in the Sacred Scriptures whose name was changed, but then still often called by his old name. This represents the value of his past; the good and bad.
The rift between his brother and he? Jacob and Esau? In the end, they learned that it didn’t have to be a question of who got the blessing and who didn't; there was enough for both of them.
There always has been, and there always will be.
And if it weren't for their struggle, none of us would have ever known.
What scars have you got? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
More to come tomorrow…
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