To a Height above the Storm!

Distinctly I remember a time on my long-distance travel, the aircraft was buffeted by strong turbulence, when passing through the storm. The pilot took the plane around 300 feet high, and peace and calmness were restored since we were flying above the storm. The storm and lightning were raging below us, but the aircraft was in a different height and so does all the people in it. That height was the safest place we could be. Storm could not touch us, when we rose to such an altitude!

The metaphor above, not only does bring a picture of God surrounding us and protecting us, but also of Him lifting us up and carrying us away from all the problems and stresses that have been bound. (Chaim Bentorah, Revealing the Heart of God, Hebrew Word Study, 2016). This is what the Hebrew word Sagav ( שָׂגָה) or “refuge,” refer to. 

The term “ oppressed is from the Hebrew word adah ( אדה), which means “to be crushed under affliction” or “to have a heavy weight on top of something.” The word for “trouble” is tsarar ( צָרַר), which means “to be bound up”; it could also come from the root word batsar (בָּצַר), meaning “a pruning” (Chaim Bentorah). 

God is a refuge for us from those who seek to crush us or to hold us down, or from those who have us bound up in fear. The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble, Ps. 9:9 (KJV). Time and time again, when the storm of life threatens us, we may think our shelter will be found in the arm of flesh, by our ingenuity, brilliance, inventiveness, creativity, imagination, resourcefulness, cleverness or by our insight. Our raging creative thoughts in our fallenness were often humbled by God’s protection and He is able to make us inaccessible to the storms. 

When we are lifted to the height above the storms, we can look down in peace and know we are in God’s protection, to a place of ultimate safety. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, Ps. 91:1(KJV).

The word is “sagav” which means to be high. The picture is a refuge in the heavens or outer space, a place that is inaccessible. More Hebrew words for refuge. noun מִקְלָט. shelter, asylum, haven, sanctuary. noun מִפלָט. escape, retreat, haven, shelter, asylum.[1]

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[1] How to say refuge in Hebrew - Thesaurus and Word Toolshttps://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the/hebrew-word-for-cdc93d65384e9644...

 

Wrestle: ‘Aveq (אָבַק)

 

Hebrew Base Word: אָבַק Part of speech: Verb Usage: Wrestle Definition: To bedust, i.e., grapple. Detailed definition: (Niphal) to wrestle, grapple (get dusty), bedust. 

       And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him; Gen 32: 24-25 KJV. 

 “It does not say that he wrestled with the man, but ‘there wrestled a man with him.’ We call him ‘wrestling Jacob,’ and so he was; but we must not forget the wrestling man, — or, rather, the wrestling Christ, — the wrestling Angel of the covenant, who had come to wrestle out of him much of his own strength and wisdom.” (Spurgeon)

“I suppose our Lord Jesus Christ did here, as on many other occasions preparatory to his full incarnation, assume a human form, and came thus to wrestle with the patriarch.” (Spurgeon)

i. Sometimes we feel man really can contend with God. A man or woman in rebellion against God might seem to do pretty well. The match seems even in appearance only. God can turn the tide at any moment, and He allows the match to go on for His own purposes.

ii. It isn’t hard to imagine Jacob working so hard and feeling he is getting the best of his opponent, until finally the Man changed the nature of the struggle in a moment. Jacob must have felt very defeated. (Enduring Word, David Guzik).

I believe that this wrestling match is more of a mind and heart battle than the physical one. This can be related to what we as humans would do when facing an extremely difficult situation! The metaphysical aspects of man, the intellectual property endowed to man by God is very complex, intricate, compounded, complicate, unfathomable, and not easy to analyze or understand fully by humans. 

Agonizing over the decision we would make, while thinking about the pros and cons seems to be very norm! This could be related to rolling in a dust, while most of the battle is in determining God’s will. Possible Jacob was rolling in the dust, wrestling with many things (such as thought, reasoning, judgement, will, design, affection, love, anger, hatred, courage, fear, worry, anxiety, joy, sorrow, and life itself- the issues of the human heart and mind), trying to absorb a little of God’s wisdom, and to know God’s will for his life, as he was running away from his brother Esau! Most likely Jacob knew what was God’s will, or he knew God’s heart, but has difficulty accepting God’s will and decision, and hence wrestling through the night, with the struggles of submitting to God’s will.

As the fight progressed, it seemed Jacob was somewhat evenly matched against the Man, but the match was only evenly matched in appearance. The Man could have won easily at any time, using supernatural power, (Enduring Word, David Guzik). As Jacob, fully spread his fears before the Lord, (the angel) suffered himself to be conquered, to encourage Jacob’s faith and hope against the approaching danger, and in truth, he even imparted strength to him to maintain the conflict. I am confident that there is sizeable element of truth in this understanding.