Bigger Dream. New Name.

Do you ever feel like a caged hamster on one of those wheel contraptions? They run like crazy for awhile, and then get off. I guess they know they need to get their daily cardio in…

Sometimes I think about the life I live – we live – and it just seems like something is off. If I don’t look too closely, everything is fine. But when I look a little deeper, I see things others have seen and have shared – serious cracks in our system, massive indicators that we’re headed in the wrong direction. I get really uneasy when I look closely at the life we find ourselves in, even here in America, even here where we celebrate and protect an American Dream where we can freely pursue “the good life.”

Back around 1900 BCE, a guy named Jacob was having similar feelings. He had given 20 years of his life to a company that had mistreated him time and again. At first, he was just happy to have a job, a place, a life. But after 20 years, he learned that what seemed like a dream at first had turned into a living nightmare. He didn’t want that dream anymore. Not for himself, his wives (uh, yup, plural), or his twelve kids (perhaps Jacob means “rabbit” in some languages).

Jacob became acutely aware of the system he was living in, and he realized that he had been fitting right in from the beginning. In Hebrew, Jacob’s name literally translates as “grasps the heal; or deceives.” He learned from the best – his father-in-law was a master-level shyster.
The crazy thing was that many people would look at his life and see a well-accomplished person. He had a ton of resources. A large family. Servants. Probably a German-engineered camel, with an Italian one in the garage. In an ancient way and time, he had gone after and captured the American Dream. And now he wanted out.

Jacob remembered a bigger dream that he had which went beyond his personal wealth and holdings. He remembered a dream where the whole world would be blessed. It was a God-sized dream. Jacob wasn’t exactly sure what it would take, but he was sure he wanted it.

There is a lot more to the story for you to read (see Genesis chapters 30-32). But to speed things up a bit… the night before Jacob was going to step into the Bigger Dream, God did a very weird thing – he sent a “man” to wrestle with Jacob. Jacob wrestled this being all night long. He wasn’t going to give up. The old Jacob may have conceded at some point and run away. But Jacob knew what was ahead of him – the Bigger Dream – and he wasn’t going to let it go, even if it killed him. Truly, to go back to what he had previously lived was to die (perhaps literally, certainly emotionally). He had nothing to lose.

At dawn, the match was called. Jacob figured out God was in the mix. This being finally blessed him – freed him – and then gave him a new name: Israel. The name "Israel" means “struggles with God.” Jacob certainly earned that name that night!

I used to think negatively when I saw “struggles with God,” like it was an insult of sorts. But now I realize that it was a great compliment revealing something wonderful and incredible about Jacob’s transformation as a human being. The struggle was a good sign. It meant Jacob was willing to go forward, to face his fears, to trust the promise of God, to put legs on his faith relationship.

When someone comes and tells you, I’m struggling with something, we often hear it as a sign that a person is in a weak or wounded place. A failing kind of struggling. But maybe it’s a sign of great faith and strength, the way we see it in Jacob.

Maybe we need to correct our vision, here. Maybe if we’re not struggling with God it means we’re not really walking much with God.

Think about it. Faith implies that we are walking with God, the Creator of the Universe, the Holy One, the Almighty, All-Knowing, All-Present God. How can we not struggle?

Maybe lack of struggle implies that we have reached our limit. We have enough of God to keep us content. No more struggle necessary – we got what we wanted. We got our on-call divine counselor, we got our after-life insurance. Good enough...

But what if what we want pales in comparison to what God wants to give us? I bet we’ll get to the end of our lives and think, I wish I would have struggled more for that…

Reality check time: How is your struggle going? How are you struggling with what God is inviting you toward? What is the next step of faith God wants you to take? Where is God leading you that makes you shake just a bit (or a lot)? What dream is God wanting to realize in you if you will just stay in the game with God long enough to let God bring it all together?

Imagine for a moment if all of us were so enamored by God that we took Jesus’ many invitations seriously.

Wanna know what it might look like? Less war, more peace – at home, at work, in the world. Greater equality where there is currently great disparity. Healthier environment. Fewer and fewer people stuck in extreme poverty. More and more people going to bed without hunger pangs. Economic stability and sustainability. A decreasing number of sweat shops exploiting children. The slow eradication of all of the abuses related to sexuality. Substances not being abused so much. Clearer, healthier communication. The list goes on and on.

This is the Kingdom of God breaking in. This is Shalom showing up.

All that’s needed are people willing to stick it out – no matter what – with God. Struggling with the implications inherent with following Jesus fully, holistically, sacrificially. Choosing not to settle for an emotionaly "Yes" to God when a "Yes" plus changed behavior and attitude is also necessary.

May you find yourself struggling with God…

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