Focus: Why The Struggle?

Text: Ps.46:10

"BE STILL, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

Moses tells the Israelis, "Fear ye not, STAND STILL, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever" (Ex.14:13). Stand still, and you shall see… Our text says, "BE STILL, and know…" 

Most of the time we struggle unnecessarily, and for that, we end up achieving nothing. You cannot get by struggle what God has given you by grace. With fear in our hearts it would be extremely difficult for us to stand still. The Scripture makes us understand that if we don't stand still we cannot see the salvation of God, and if we are not still, we cannot know that God is the sovereign Lord.

When Rebekah was pregnant with her two sons, the Lord said to her, "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger" (Gen.25:23). God declared the destinies of the two boys in advance. God determined that the first boy that came out of the womb would serve the other boy who came out later. It was divinely predetermined or predestined, and so, it was not something any one of them could bring about on their own or by struggle.

Concerning their birth, we read, "And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel…" (Gen.25:26). From this record we can see that the younger brother was struggling to come out first, even to the point of holding on to the heel of his brother. In other words, he unnecessarily struggled to get out of the womb first. There was no need for his struggle. The truth is that we get nothing from God through struggle or self-assertiveness.

The flesh struggles in vain for what God has already given us so graciously.

Jacob struggled in the womb to come out before his brother, but all to no avail. Esau still came out before him. Jacob struggled to accomplish in the flesh what God had not sanctioned or destined for him. He wanted to be the first to be born whereas God purposed for him to be the last to be born, and by being the last to come out, he would gain the privilege of becoming the leader in his father's family.

In Matthew 19:30, the Lord Jesus Christ says, "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." The same thing is repeated in chapter 20:16: "So the last shall be first, and the first last…" In Rev.2:19, we read that "the last to be more than the first." Finally, we read in Heb. 10:9, "He taketh away the FIRST, that he may establish the SECOND." 

Stop forcing things! Learn to give God space in your life to be God! Stop usurping God's place and position in your own life and in the lives of others! Stop struggling to make happen what only God has power to do! Stop getting ahead of God! Stop running faster than your shadow! Learn to be still while God is busy processing your testimony! Why the struggle?

Had Jabob become the first to come out of his mother's womb by sheer struggle, he would have become Esau's servant, and that would have nullified or set aside God's plan for his life and that of his posterity.

Jacob's struggle in the womb was for nothing. He didn't succeed. Esau still made it first out of the womb. Jacob was named a heel-catcher, but catching Esau's heel changed nothing. It made no difference, for the grace of God had already granted Jacob the lead role in the family. Sovereign grace had already guaranteed Jacob's first place as the last to be born. 

What is obtainable by grace is not attainable by human effort. Stop struggling to earn by effort what God has bestowed on you so freely! No one becomes or amounts to anything in this life except God makes sure of it. Stop wasting effort to gain what God freely gives! Freely enjoy the free gifts of God!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter