THE CONTOUR SHIFT

Tuesday Night...

While I was preparing for bed for the night, I was standing at the bathroom sink and I heard the word contour.  Now, I have heard this term before, but I wasn't sure what it meant.  Taking a few minutes to look it up in the dictionary (that's right the Big Blue Dictionary).   Contour--the outline of a figure, mass, land, etc.;  delineate which is to trace the form or outline of; to draw; to describe; to depict in words; to paint; to portray; to form a likeness of by drawing; painting; sculpting; description; picture; representation; sketching; portrait.

...Sleep...

Well, it's Wednesday night and I am still chewing and meditating on the word contour.  I like it!  It sounds French.  Lol.

So what is God saying? 

God is changing our contour; our outline; the lines bounding our limits; the listing or presenting of the main points in our story; the sketching of our lives. God is doing some internal work within us.  Can't you feel the shift?  You can't explain what's happening but you are sure something is happening that will put you in the way of your next and destiny. 

The Refining Fire

Life may not break us, but life will require much bending and adjusting to fit a mode or a certain model that entails being put into the fire of affliction and refined and sculpted to be used by God.  The writer of Psalm 66:10-12, Amplified Version, said, "For YOU, O God, have proved us; YOU have tried us as silver is tried, refined, and purified. YOU brought us into the net (prison fortress, the dungeon); YOU laid a heavy burden upon our loins {most sensitive areas}. YOU caused men to ride over our heads {leaders of our nation and families} [when we were prostrate; in a humble state of surrender and helplessness]; we went through the fire {purification and refinement} and through the water {trouble, trial}, but YOU brought us into a wealthy, broad moist place [to abundance and refreshment and the open air]-- emphasis mine as lead by the Holy Spirit."

Everyone God ever used for His purposes has gone through the fire.  Refinement in the fire involves stress, stretching, pressure, force, bending and bowing.  Humility is a requirement.  Refinement also involves a cooling process. Those who work with medal and iron works are familiar with this process, but so is God.  Just as a medal/iron worker cannot use cold medal and iron untouched by fire, neither can God utilize a person who is cold, stubborn and unwilling to go through the fire.

When we encounter the fire that bends, adjust and reconstructs us into a prototype of Christ, there's a creating of new formulas {mindsets, behavioral patterns, methodologies, arrangements, balances, etc.} that manage and maintain the cooling process which is the prototype of Christ we are becoming daily.

Sketchy Character

God will not give us anything too soon.  Legal rights to the promise doesn't mean we will possess the blessing when we deem it's time (Genesis 25:29-34).  Jacob a supplanter at birth, a schemer, trickster, swindler by trade did not possess the character or personhood to manage what was legally his. He had to go through the fire of refining. Moreover, because his character and personhood did not compliment the blessing, his inheritance was withheld from him for a period of time.  (Reference Scriptures:  Genesis 25:21-34, chapts. 27-28, 30:29-43; chapt. 31, 32:21-32, Hosea12:2-4 --Amplified Version).

I want to deal with something I found quite intriguing in Scripture.  Genesis 25:27-28 says,  "...Jacob [supplanter] grew up to be a plain and quiet man, dwelling in tents.  Obviously, Jacob suffered from rejection from his father who loved and preferred Esau because he ate of his game (his skills and talents were profitable).

Rejection from his father and the drive for first from birth drove Jacob to become someone he was never meant to be. Not being first son, not measuring up to his brother's talents and his father's expectations drove him to sin.  Jacob was just a plain and quiet man, who dwelt in tents {he minded his own business; a loner; a home body}.  Have you ever had anyone note you as just; they saw no value in who you were?  Jacob wanted to be first son and schemed to swindle his eldest twin brother out of his birthright.  Have you ever coveted what someone else had that you schemed to get it (a job, money, promotion, man or woman, a climb up the ladder)?

Rebekah adored Jacob, seeing value in who he was, but unfortunately, sometimes a mother's love cannot fulfill the inner voids of being rejected by one's own father.
Wow!  Come on Holy Spirit.  Hi-Five moment.

So, why did Jacob, a grown man by now, go along with his mother Rebekah's scheme to take possession of the blessing of promise in Genesis 27?  Rebekah loving Jacob, saw the agony of Jacob being rejected by Isaac his father, day after day.  And being the loving mother she was, she attempted to cure her sons longing of wanting to be loved and accepted by his father by leaning on her own character flaws which was a generational curse.  Remember, her brother Laban was also a trickster, schemer and swindler.

The movies show her as a scandalous woman, but that wasn't the case. Rebekah did what many mom's do in desparation for their child or children.  She took matters into her own hands and attempted to fix the contention and rejection brewing in the family.  She felt that maybe if his father blessed him that he would finally feel loved and accepted by his father.

Well, he did have the right to be blessed since he possessed the birthright.  Right? Our rights don't give us the right to force ourselves on other's.

Mother's it is so important that we are going to God on behalf of our children and waiting for his instructions and direction concerning our children.  We should never coach our children into sin.  Amen.

Like Jacob, sometimes, wanting and longing for love and acceptance drives us to become something and someone we never intended to be, and in Rebekah's case encourage things that should never happen in a family. Rebekah's scheme to possess the father's blessing as first son would finally earn Jacob the right to be loved, blessed, accepted and invited into his father's presence.  But a what cost?

The clock was ticking.  Isaac, his elderly father was old and knew he would be laid to rest one day soon.  It was now or never. So, Jacob growing desperate consented to deception.

Rebekah prepared the stew, while Jacob dressed himself in deception. He felt like Esau, smelled like Esau, but he did not sound like Esau.  Deception earned him the blessing.

However, deception provoked his brothers fury, making Jacob a fugitive.  It was many years before Jacob made peace with his brother Esau.  Mental Note:  Any plan involving deception always involves running from those we've deceived.  It's best just to give what we feel is unfair to God and let Him give us what is ours, His way and in His timing.

One Encounter with God

However one encounter with God changed EVERYTHING!  Jacob went from Jacob [supplanter, swindler, trickster and schemer to Israel [contender of God]. He got tired of running from Jacob and everything that followed his name.  One night Jacob encountered the God of Bethel.

Jacob encountered God's grace and power to change.  His drive to become someone and something different drove him to contend with God.  I love the fact that God can utilize our past as a drive to become a better person, possessing His character.  I am going to say it a different way, God can utilize the worst parts of our story to shape and establish the best of our story.

Jacob's contour changed, and he possessed a limp that validated the contour shift.  When God changes our contour, our walk and how we walk should convey that.  Amen.  When people see us, they should know by the way we walk (our lifestyle) that we've encountered the God Man, Jesus Christ.

Jacob was forever Israel [a contender of God].  He wrestled until day break for his blessing.  The same desperation he possessed to be seen by his father in deception, drove Jacob to come clean and confess his sins before his God.  God in one encounter took away Jacob's name, pain and shame and gave him a new name that locked him into his destiny (Genesis 32:27-28). 

Isn't that Good News?  Great news, indeed! 

One last question:  So what more does God want to do in you, through you and for you?


KINGDOM BUILDING UNITED
(Promoting the Good News of Jesus Christ around the globe)