"We live in a world that seeks after what they perceive as perfection. The number of plastic surgeons have increased through the past many years because of this desire to look perfect. Fashion designers spend thousands upon thousands of dollars trying to create fashion lines that cover the imperfections found in the human body.
"People find little value in exposing their imperfections for others to see. In fact most do not see any benefit of having wounds, scars, or injuries in plain sight, because of the perception other people have because of them.
"Within our life for God we also suffer wounds, injuries, and scars that are not seen with the physical eye, but are still present. But your scars are important, and they signify something far greater than just the evidence of a former wound. They speak of perseverance, faith, and a willingness to go through pain for the sake of the Kingdom.
"Jesus Himself is our example. He was not ashamed of His scars for they speak of His victory. He wears them for all to see, so that all will know that He has overcome the cross, His own death, and He now lives forevermore. It is those wounds that bring us healing, and it is those wounds that released the life-giving blood that brought us our redemption.
"And in our own lives, our scars are also important. In fact they depict several important things:
- A Changed Perspective. Our scars often were moments when our perspective changed. We have gone from those who cannot weep with those who weep, to someone who is able to be touched by the hurts of another.
- Our Maturation. Scars show that we have been in the battle and have come through. They depict that we have reached a place where we can say like Paul, 'I have learned . . . .'
- Authorization to Speak. By this I mean that there are some circumstances that people go through that only someone who has been there can understand. In my own life, God delivering me from suicidal thoughts and depression when I was a teenager has given me an ability to speak to others who have been facing the same thing. If I hadn't gone through it, they would not have listened to me.
"These are important aspects to our scars, but there are also some wounds that speak of something far deeper. In fact they speak of an encounter with God that marked us, changed us, and revealed to us a deeper purpose than ever before. They are the wounds from a transition moment when God moved us in a direction we had never gone before, and the scars are there to remind us of the encounter.
". . . In Genesis 32 we read one of the classic stories of the Bible, and the story of one of the great scalawags that became a patriarch.
"Jacob is a man with baggage. He has wounded and deceived many people in his lifetime. He had deceived his father to receive a birthright that was his brother's; he had run from this brother because he wanted to kill him; and he had run away with his family from his even more deceptive Uncle Laban.
"Now he finds himself having settled the matter with his Uncle and now is heading straight for his brother. In one short moment in time his entire past is coming full circle back to him.
"Jacob is led by God's promise of protection and provision to go back to the land of his father and settle there. Yet God is also forcing Jacob to head back to deal with the issue of his life, and to face down his most dreaded foe in life . . . himself.
"He tries to entreat his brother and ask for kindness from him only to hear that Esau has gathered 400 men and are riding toward him. He sends a caravan of gifts in Esau's direction, in hopes that it will placate him, but he believes he knows his brother too well to think that this would work. He divides his two wives, their servants, and their children into two separate camps in the hopes that at least one may escape and live. And he prays.
"In Jacob's prayer (Genesis 32:9-12) you see a man who desperately wants to remind God that He promised him that all would go well with him here. He declares God's faithfulness, but also resolutely has to admit that God has been more faithful and kind to him than he has deserved. Yet God gives Jacob no answer.
"So Jacob finalizes everything he knows how to do. He separates himself from his family by sending them across the river while he goes back to his tent. And there in the loneliness of the moment, Jacob encounters a God who is determined to work out of him the meaning of his name, 'One who grasps at the heel', or 'Deceiver'. And this will happen in the most unconventional way, a wrestling match.
"In this wrestling match Jacob prevails with God. He refuses to let go of Him until He receives a blessing from Him. The Lord finds that Jacob is no longer running, but he is staying to fight and has no plans on leaving that tent the way he came in. As the sun is about to rise, God has to put an end to the battle, so he touches Jacob's hip and dislocates it permanently, and He changes something else permanently, He changes Jacob's name.
"In calling him Israel, the meaning of his name changes from 'Deceiver' to 'One who Prevails with God.' And from this day forward, he is not the man who is known by his past, but a man who is known by his encounter with God in every limping step he took for the remainder of his life. For he was a man who had to be broken to become whole.
"We will find in our lives these moments as well. These are moments when you encounter yourself, your failures and successes, your hopes and dreams, and the reality of where we are in comparison to the will and purpose of God. They are also moments where we discover who we are will not take us to the place we want to be, and unless something changes within us nothing will happen.
"Just as with Israel, there are three main points about this moment with God that are a part of the process of change:
- It happens in a moment of isolation
- It brings out a new level of determination
- It changes our identity
"1. It happens in a moment of Isolation. God seldom deals with us individually in a group setting. He usually does His most intense work in places of isolation, where we have been unplugged from all distractions and the people we depend upon. God gets our attention best when He has brought us to a place where no one else can reach us, but Him.
"I can remember moments in my life of crying out to God in complete solitude, just feeling so burdened down by where I was that I yelled out to God, 'Why am I here?' It was a place where nothing else could distract me, and nothing else mattered to me. All I knew was that everything had been removed and I am left alone to deal with my frustrations about life, and about me.
"This is a God-moment, where He has led you to a dead-end road and all you can do is turn to Him. It is in these moments that God reveals Himself in a different way than we've known Him, and He is going to bring you to a point of realization and revelation that will change you.
"2. It brings out a new level of Determination. Nothing forces your hand like being backed into a corner; when you find yourself in a place where you cannot flee and all you can do is fight [or collapse into His arms]. But in that moment you find something inside of you that reaches deeper than you've ever reached before, and a determination sets in to face what you wouldn't previously.
"And God leads us to these moments where we are provoked to become a fighter. For if we never reach a new level of determination [it is His determination in us], how can we stand and overcome a devil who is determined to kill you? If you never rise up in a new determination how can you arise to a new level of authority, or live under a new revelation of the Spirit?
"Our determination to receive is often the difference to whether we get anything from God or not. It is the moment of determination that I have seen personally, that often determines whether someone is healed, blessed, or impacted by God. It is the determined that come again and again until they receive what they are desiring from God.
"And God leads us to these moments so that He can lead us to an ultimate reality, the change of our destiny, purpose, and identity [actually, the fulfillment of all three].
"3. It changes our identity. Just as Jacob received a new identity through his walk and through his name, so God desires to change our identity as well through an encounter with Him.
"To take us from powerless to powerful. Move us away from the failures of our past and into the promise of our future. To transform us from our current position and reveal our greater purpose.
"The ultimate purpose for the encounter is that we will never walk the same way again but that in every step we take we are reminded of the moment in time when God changed everything.
"There are victories to be won in your life, and if you are finding yourself at an end on the road you are on, you may well be heading to a moment when God will wound you in an encounter with Him. But don't resist the wrestling match He is inviting you to. Don't resist the changes He is making, and even the dissatisfaction you have been feeling.
"Let God wound you. Let Him bring you to a place of determination. For it will be the place you will look back upon as the place where everything changed.
"'. . . He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds.'" (Hosea 6:1, NLT)
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