Waking Up On Holy Ground

My last post brought memories of my post a few years ago about my life being like that of Jacob. One of my favorite songs "Asleep on Holy Ground" written by Michael Card captures the story of Jacob's life and the transformation of a man that took almost 20 years. Here are the words of the song and then I will talk aobut it:

Asleep On Holy Ground.

A stone for pillow, as hard as his head
He slept on holy ground,
The dreaming deceiver he dreamt of a ladder
With angels up and down
And the ladder was a way, the stairway was a sign, 

The gates of heaven opened wide,

Revealing the divne

1st Chours

Asleep on holy ground he lay,
Oblivious to the night,

Inside his head and heart were full 

Of inexpressible light,

Soon he would be confronted by the

Friend that we most fear

Asleep on holy ground he lay, deceitful blessed seer

The dream that he dreamt now,

Transformed to a nightmare

As he wrestled with a man

The unearthly power of his Beloved opponent

Made Jacob understand

That the wrestling was the way,

The struggle was the sign,

He limped away, his lesson learned 

Now Israel was defined

2nd Chorus

He limped away on holy ground

Awakened from the dream

Having learned his costly lesson from the Way of the Nazarene

That pain's the path to blessing, Love will fight us to be found

And God remains a dream to those who sleep on holy ground.

Wasn't that a beautiful summation of Jacob's life.  I love the verses which say as he lay asleep, the first dream showed him the revelation of who his God was and he wakes up saying “Mah nora hamakom hazeh, ein zeh ki im beit Elohim v’zeh shaar hashamayim,”“ “Shaken, he said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and this is the gateway to heaven". Jacob knew that God was in this place and erects a monument. He knows that as he journeys to a strange land and to a foreign people the God of Abraham and Isaac is going with him. This encourages me because that is the promise God gave me when I left my country from Joshua 1:9 "Be Bold and Be courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go". It gives me immense encouragement when Jesus says to Nathanel  John 1:51 "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Jacob's ladder to God is clearly defined, nobody comes to the Father but through Jesus the bridge that brings us to His heart.

The second part of the song is cool because it shows the life of Jacob, escaping from Laban's house on a return journey home, but the brother he had deceived long ago stands in the way. Jacob puts the family groups in order and he himself stays back on the banks of the river Jabbok and spends the night where now he wrestles with a man till the break of dawn. The man fighting Jacob purposefully gives Jacob the chance to struggle, He seems to be having fun wrestling with one of his favorite children. I suspect here again it is the Angel of the Lord (Jesus) in his pre-incarnate form who has now come to bless and transform his chosen servant. The struggle continues for the whole night and when daylight breaks, the man merely touches the Patriarch's hip and it gets dislodged. Jacob pleads and tells Him that he will not leave his hold on his legs till He has blessed him. The Lord redefines Jacob's name to "Israel" and lays the pathway for the finest to be found. The transformation in Jacob's life was complete, he becomes Israel which interestingly also means the one who struggles with God and survives or the prince of God. The man who had crossed Jordan with just a staff had become a large family of 70 people and now he just got blessed to become a nation but at the same time paving the way for blessings over all the nations. This was only possible by God's choosing and his desperate seeking to be blessed. Friends I have a lesson to learn and so do you.

Shalom,

Sam Kurien