ITTY BITTY FAITH AND WRESTLING WITH AN ANGEL…

GENESIS 32:24-25: “Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.  (25)  When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip.” CSB

MATTHEW 17:18-20: “Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.  (19)  Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”  (20)  “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” CSB

OBSERVATION: What does a mustard seed have to do with a wrestling match? I am amazed as I read through the Bible each year how there are times when my reading intersects with one important thought in two very different examples. Such is the case of the mustard seed and the wrestling match.

I have struggled with both of these sections of Scripture all my life. There are so many questions that remain unanswered. Did Jacob really have a physical wrestling match with the Angel of Jehovah (Jesus) or was this a dream? Was Jesus serious when He said we could speak to mountains and move them or was this merely hyperbole? Whatever the ultimate answer is to these questions one thing is clear – both Jacob and the disciples suffered from the same thing.

ITTY BITTY FAITH!

Jacob is like most of us. He prayed asking for God’s protection but then he created his own strategies and plans. He was afraid that his brother Esau was going to attack him for his deception and for stealing his birthright and blessing. As Jacob returned home, as he learned that Esau and 400 men were traveling to meet him, he shot up a prayer and developed a plan.

Jacob was a man of action. He had plotted to leave his father-in-law Laban secretly in the night. He divided his family, workers, and flocks into two camps as he approached Esau. Jacob sent a large gift of his flock ahead of him to appease his brother. While he prayed his trust was more in his plan than in the provision and power of God!

JACOB HAD ITTY BITTY FAITH!

The nine disciples were left behind to wait for Jesus, Peter, James, and John as they climbed the mountain of transfiguration. They earnestly endeavored to remain busy in Jesus’ absence. Encountering a man who was demon-possessed, they relied on their knowledge and imitating Jesus as they tried to cast out the demon. When Jesus came down from the mountain he met a disappointed crowd and a bewildered group of disciples.

THE DISCIPLES HAD ITTY BITTY FAITH!

What do these two encounters have in common? In both of these accounts, the principal characters were relying on themselves rather than on God. Jacob was positioned to rely on his craftiness and human strength. The disciples were relying on their association with Jesus and imitated what Jesus had done. Neither of them was trusting solely in the power of God!

The Angel of Jehovah had to dislocate Jacob’s hip before he would stop. When Jacob refused to let go it showed his utter dependence on the one who was greater than himself. Jacob asked for a blessing because he knew that he could not continue in his own strength. If he and his family were going to be preserved it would be only because he had surrendered himself into the mighty hands of the living God! Jacob, now named Israel, would limp for the rest of his life as a physical reminder that his strength was in God alone!

The disciples were also challenged about their lack of faith. Had they been with Jesus so long and still not understood where His strength came from? Did they think they could do the works Jesus did by simply saying what Jesus said? Their faith was focused more on an acquaintance and a methodology rather than a dynamic relationship with the living God.

The call to mustard seed faith illustrates their desperate need for faith. They lacked faith. Jesus said they only needed itty bitty faith!The power was not in the amount of faith but in the focus or source of faith. I can have all the faith in the world in my position, ministry, training, Bible knowledge, my past experiences, and still fail miserably. Or, I can have the smallest grain of faith in the Creator of the Universe and be able to move mountains.

I NEED ITTY BITTY FAITH – IN CHRIST ALONE!

Jacob never had another wrestling match with the Angel of Jehovah. There is no Biblical record that the disciples ever rearranged the topography of Israel. Yet, both went on to do mighty exploits in the name of the living God! What they could not do in their own strength and wisdom, with just itty bitty faith and a limp they could do in the power and anointing of God.

As I meditate upon these thoughts I am in the process of recovering from knee replacement surgery. I have had many complications and after three months I still have limited mobility and need to use a cane when walking. The medications I have had to take have dimmed my mental faculties and ability to read and write. I have wondered if there was light at the end of the tunnel or if I would be facing limitations for the rest of my life. I am confronted with my…

ITTY BITTY FAITH!

This morning all of these thoughts and worries seem insignificant. Whatever I face in life, whatever way I may need to navigate its path, I must trust solely in the grace of God. I want to be found in Him, trusting in His power, and clothed in His righteousness. I want to be engaged in His work – not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the living God!

Zechariah 4:6: “So he answered me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD of Armies.” CSB

Whether I have a physical limp or just a spiritual limp, I will always remember the lesson of the wrestling match and itty bitty faith. Thank you, Lord, for your unspeakable mercy and grace!

In Jesus’ Name!