Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Faith is Drawn and Driven

Notes on Jacob's wrestling with God in Genesis 32:

"Jacob's faith lays hold of the Angel in sheer desperation. Here is the core of his lifelong desire for the blessing. He grasps the One who is the Giver and the Gift, the Lord of life and hope.

True faith is not a flaccid acceptance of a better state of affairs. It is drawn and driven: drawn by the bursting recognition that God is real, and that he is here with me; driven by the emptiness and horror of guilt and dread apart from his blessing.

Faith grips the Lord, lays hold on eternal life. What Jacob claims is God's promise; he cannot be denied, for God has bound himself."

-Edmund P. Clowney, Preaching Christ in All of Scripture, p91

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