Pastors: Wrestle with the Word to be a blessing!

While I was in the throws of studying for a sermon, I sent my assistant an instant message that said I was wrestling with preparing my message. Her reply back to me was supposed to be funny: “Don’t forget the head-lock, that’s a winning move”.

The humorous response actually impacted me. I immediately thought of Jacob. In Genesis 32, Jacob was preparing to meet Esau—his brother—with an unknown (and possibly life-ending) outcome at stake. The night before the fateful meeting was to take place, he had an encounter that would change him forever.

God showed up in human form. When this happens in the OT it’s called a Theophany—a pre-incarnate physical appearance of Jesus before he was born. John 1 tells us that before He was called Jesus his name was the Word of God, and in this instance the Word took Jacob on in an epic wrestling match.

So here’s Jacob wrestling the living Word of God, all night long, asking for a blessing. In fact, he won’t let go until he has that blessing. What if Jacob had been content to let go? From Jacob (later to be called Israel) would come first a family, then a whole nation, who God would use to change the world. That wrestling match was important. We might even say historical.

Fast-forward about four thousand years: We pastors sit in our studies, or the library, or Starbucks as we wrestle with the Word week after week, asking God to bless our messages, not just for us, but for the people we are going to lead and preach to. We’re looking for the touch of God green smoke electronic cigarette on our work, because we know that without God’s touch, people might be Biblically informed, but they won’t be spiritually transformed.

Honestly, if you are a preacher, do you ever struggle with preparing your messages like I do? Many weeks I’m fidgeting, praying, analyzing, moving, mumbling, and even shouting at God to position myself to hear His Word for me and for His people. I know how to study. I’m reasonably confident that I am faithful to the text—I’m not a heretic. But sometimes I’m too quick about assimilating the information and moving on. If I’ve got a memorable outline, some solid illustrations, and have integrity to the Word, I used to feel like that was good enough. Not anymore. I’m wrestling more. I want my preaching to be more prophetic. I want people to leave having really heard the voice of God in their hearts. I don’t want to be done preparing until I know that there’s going to be a blessing

At least once a week, many of the people who call my church home (along with a number of those who don’t) are going to be listening to me. What a great responsibility! These folks need to hear God. Not just my ideas about God; not just my novel interpretations of scripture; and especially not just my thoughts about how to get along in life.  They need to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit through my sermons in a way that they can respond to and be blessed. When that happens, God will use them to change their world. My weekly epic wrestling match becomes important…possibly even historical.