Charles W. Holt
email: cholt@gt.rr.com
JACOB’S NIGHT IN THE "HARDROCK MOTEL"
Genesis 28
Just this week I have had two separate individuals on two separate occasions tell me, when speaking of their trying circumstances and having to make tough decisions, "I feel so alone, I feel I have no one to talk to, to get advice or counsel." In this message today we are going to meet a man named Jacob who found himself all alone because of very difficult and very trying circumstances. We will see that what happened to him offers a great deal of comfort and hope for anyone who may feel they are in a hard place—a place I’ll refer to as being "between a rock and a hard place." I think many of us can identify with that expression.
Most of you who have graduated from College or the University are familiar with the part of your studies that included work in the class laboratory. I enjoyed my biology class because the professor made the various theories informative and interesting. But the day when he explained how we would work in the lab and eventually dissect the fetal pig brought a chill. I was to learn that theory is necessary but nothing teaches like "hands on." Later, after several college hours of counseling theory, it came time to enroll in a "practicum" class which essentially meant getting out of the classroom setting and into the so-called "real world" of counseling. My professor was fond of saying, "There’s no better way to learn how to counsel than by doing it," he said. "You will make mistakes, but you will learn from your mistakes." Such is life generally speaking.
How many of you have spent some quality time in the "University of Hard Knocks?" None of us have graduated from the classes it offers. One can ditch a subject that is unpopular or skip a few classes at school but this is not done in the University of Hard Knocks. As a student pilot I distinctly remember the day when my flying instructor said, "Chuck, today we are going to practice stalls and spins." I knew what he meant and I didn’t like the idea at all. Despite my protests and even a plea to postpone or, better yet, just forget this part of the training, we did stalls and spins. It was another of the, learn by doing, "hands on" training experience. Someone has wisely said, "When things get rough, remember: it’s the rubbing that brings out the shine." The patriarch Jacob will illustrate this thought.
Our story is found in Genesis 28. Jacob was a person with many rough spots in his character. Does this apply to anyone you know personally? God was about to begin a rubbing process that ultimately will result in bringing out the shine of His purpose which was to bring great blessing to him, his family, and ultimately the whole world—even to our day. From Jacob’s experience we will gain some insights about encounters with life’s abrasives that God uses to put the shine in our lives too.
Chapter 28 opens with Jacob standing in the presence of his father Isaac who is preparing to send his son to choose a bride from among kinfolk in Padan-aram. Jacob is told, "Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan" (vs. 6). With his father’s blessing he "went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep" (vss 10-11 KJV). It was at this time and place that Jacob had his ladder to heaven dream that ended with the Lord pronouncing His blessing upon him (see vss. 12-15).
As evening of the first day falls, Jacob finds himself near the city of Luz. He knows the city gates will close at sundown therefore he is content to spend the night in the open field, "and he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep" (vs. 10 NKJV). Was this the original HardRock Motel? This could easily be the origination of the well-known phrase, "against a rock and a hard place." We have all experienced that. Jacob’s "rock and a hard place" turns out, however, to be the source of a great revelation. It is not unusual for us to find, on our Divine Itinerary (a.k.a., "walking by faith" journey), several "rock and a hard place" stops. They are for the same purpose as Jacob’s—to receive a heavenly revelation—to shape us, to affect our future.
I have mentioned that Jacob is leaving home because of his father’s wish and with his father’s blessing. But you should also know that Jacob is leaving because if he doesn’t his twin brother Esau will kill him for cheating him out of the family inheritance. It may not have been his choice to leave home. He may have preferred to stay home with his mother. If he doesn’t go he is a dead man. This leaves me with the feeling that Jacob’s mind and emotions are swirling like a newly disturbed beehive. He feels uprooted. His comfort zone has definitely been invaded. His future is uncertain. He may have scores of questions with no answers. This could make for a very restless night. It could be a night of tossing and turning even if he could lay his weary body and raw emotions on the softest pillow. It was not to be. Instead, he lays his head on a rock.
HE LAYS HIS HEAD ON A ROCK!
Now let your imagination take wings. Leap into the light of literary license via the use of metaphor and analogy and see that rock in a way that you have never seen it before. Let that rock be the ROCK OF AGES. Let that ROCK be Jesus. Is there any better place to lay one’s head down—lay down all the troubling thoughts, mixed emotions, worries, fears (list them all)? Is there any better place to lay them all down than on the Rock Christ Jesus?
How else could one possibly go to sleep with his head on a rock unless it’s a special Rock. Here’s the metaphor: Jesus is the ROCK. How do I know? I know because Israel’s passage from Egypt into Canaan tells me. Paul said, "And [the Israelites in the wilderness] did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4).
This means that when we find ourselves in a "between a rock and a hard place" experience we can transform that experience from "between a rock," to reclining on a Rock, resting on a Rock. While we are at it, let’s throw in David’s prayer: "Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Ps. 61:1,2 NKJV). To be led by the Holy Spirit to the "rock that is higher than I" means we come to the place of comfort, rest, peace. Lying down on that Rock is to place all our anxious thoughts and confusion upon Him. It is putting us in a place of receiving a new revelation of a stairway that is open to the heavens.
I discovered that the Authorized Version (KJV) says, "…and he took the stones of that place, and put them for pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep." This is one of the beauties of the King James Version. It lends itself to such picturesque speech. Seeing it that way opened a new opportunity to mine the gold from this sentence that may only be found in a metaphorical sense. Let’s see what he did and then make some practical and spiritual applications. He . . .
1. Took stones of that place.
2. Put them for pillows.
3. Lay down in that place.
4. Went to sleep.
HE TOOK THE STONES OF THAT PLACE.
Where is the, "that place" experience? You and I have been there. It is a hard place because it is a stony place. There is no green grass, soft and moist, to lie down upon. There is no smell of flowers wafting on the wings of the evening’s gentle breezes. The most readily available resource is rocks and more rocks. It is a desolate place. For Jacob, it was a lonely place. It was an isolated place. He was traveling light. It was a place of dashed hopes and dreams. A short time earlier he had thought he was getting wealth and power. He gets isolation and separation from his family. He is a man hated by his brother. He is now part of a fractured family. He is on the run. We have been in THAT PLACE.
In THAT PLACE you desire comfort but comfort is denied. But there are plenty of rocks.
In THAT PLACE you desire companionship but companionship is denied. Still, there are plenty of rocks.
In THAT PLACE you could use a friendly voice, an understanding voice, but friendly and understanding do not exist here. Rocks exist here, and plenty of them.
What to do? Here is one man’s discovery.
A Jewish Psychologist named Victor Frankl discovered a great truth in the midst of a German concentration camp during WWII. While seeking to survive the horror of his imprisonment, Frankl began observing his fellow prisoners in hope of discovering what coping mechanism would help him endure this horrendous existence. What Frankl discovered was this. Those individuals who could not accept what was happening to them, who could not make their present suffering fit with their faith, who could not find it’s meaning in their world view…they despaired, lost hope, and eventually gave up and died. But those individuals that could find a meaning from their faith, were then able to find hope for a future beyond their present suffering, and so could accept what they were enduring as part of their existence, and they survived.
In our story of Jacob, he does something. He took the stone, "and put them for pillows." Not everyone can do this. The opportunity, the potential, is available to everyone. But not everyone can do this because the way one views the stones will determine what use is made of them. Stones can be used as missiles to hurl at others in what is well known as "the blame game." Stones can be used as ballast to weigh one down to sink beneath the waters of self-pity and failure.
However, stones can be used to create a strong foundation to support a new building. Or, stones may become part of the actual building. Stones can never be converted into a downy-soft featherbed. Life is never that easy. But they may become a pillow for a weary mind and body IF IT IS BELIEVED THEY CAN BE. Victor Frankl, further describing his experience in the Nazi death camp said, "They striped me naked. They took everything—my wedding ring, watch. I stood there naked and all of a sudden realized at that moment that although they could take everything away from me—my wife, my family, my possessions—they could not take away my freedom to choose how I was going to respond.
Thomas Carlyle, the noted historian, had just spent two years writing a book on the French Revolution. On the day he finished his manuscript he gave his only copy to a colleague, John Stuart Mill, to read and critique. But, then the unthinkable occurred. Mill’s servant used Carlyle’s manuscript as kindling to start a fire. As Mill reported the devastating news, Carlyle’s face paled. Two years of his life were lost. Thousands of long, lonely hours he spent writing had been wasted. He could not imagine writing the book again. He lapsed into a deep depression. Then one day while walking the city streets, Carlyle noticed a stone wall under construction. He was transfixed. That tall sweeping wall was being raised one brick at a time. It was a moment of inspiration for him. If he wrote one page at a time, one day at a time, he could write the book again. And that is exactly what he did.
What can you do one page at a time, one day at a time?
The freedom to choose how we are going to respond to any situation, any problem or difficulty, is a God-given gift freely available to every one of us. We are free to choose to see stones—rocks—and that only. We are free to respond either negatively or positively to our bed of stones. Here is one of my favorite stories. It is a short story I’ve heard many times called, "The Window." There have been several versions but they all ultimately have the same message. It is a story that tells of two men who were roommates in a hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up for an hour every afternoon to drain fluid from his lungs while the other man had to lay flat on his back. The men would talk for hours. They discussed their families, their jobs, their military service and just about everything else.
The man who could sit up looked forward immensely to the hour every afternoon when he could prop himself up and look out the window by his bed. Each afternoon he would describe what he saw to the other gentleman. He talked about how the window overlooked a beautiful park with a lovely lake. He talked about the swans swimming on the lake and the young children playing at the water’s edge. He described the beautiful trees and flowers that adorned the lake. The man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. After several days of having the beautiful scenes described to him, however, he began to wonder, "Why should he have all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything? It just isn’t fair."
Late one night the gentleman by the window began to choke and cough because of the fluid on his lungs. While the second man watched his roommate struggle and grope for the call button, he never used his own button to call for help. In less than five minutes the man was dead. The next morning the nurses came in and found the lifeless body of the man by the window. Soon the body was moved and as soon as it was appropriate, the other man asked to be moved to the bed by the window. The nurse was happy to comply with his wishes and the man was moved and made comfortable. Slowly and painfully the man propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to look out the window beside the bed. As he did so, he saw nothing but a brick wall.
What do you see when you look out through your HardRock Motel’s window?
Here’s something to ponder. The deserts of New Mexico, Arizona and California have a unique beauty if one wants to see it. I’ve seen that beauty and nothing compares to it. Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over these deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.
Jacob made pillows out of his stones and "lay down in that place." Yes, in THAT PLACE. The hard place. The hurting place. We would not naturally choose a moment’s stay in the HardRock Motel let alone an extended period. It is chosen for us perhaps by some foolish mistake or blunder on our part. Or, it may be chosen for us by our wise Heavenly Father to reveal Himself in a new way. Whatever may be the cause, we are there.
Remember Chuck Colson, one of the infamous Watergate figures? He was one of President Nixon’s chief counsels. One of the "President’s Men," so to speak. While it was not called the HardRock Motel it was equal to it when he found himself behind razor wire and the confines of a Federal Prison for several months for his part in the Watergate break-in. And he had to "lay down in that place." Chuck Colson summarizes his life this way in his book, Loving God: "The real legacy of my life was my biggest failure—that I was an ex-convict. My greatest humiliation—being sent to prison—was the beginning of God’s greatest use of my life; He chose the one experience in which I could not glory for His glory."
His transforming HardRock Motel experience is now legendary. As the founder and leader of Prison Fellowship, he has been instrumental as a powerful influence for Christ in the lives of literally hundreds of men and women behind prison walls around the world. Jacob received his transforming revelation the night he spent resting his head on his stony pillows. Colson did the same. When they first manufactured golf balls, they made the covers smooth. They discovered that after a ball had been roughed up one could get more distance out of it. So they started manufacturing them with dimpled covers. So it is with life; it takes some rough spots to make us go the farthest.
Now if you think that what I have been talking about so far is way beyond reality, that it is in fact a wild ride into fantasy land, let’s look at what might be justly called the COUP DE GRACE (a.k.a., a finishing stroke or decisive event). What happens next is truly the decisive event. The Bible says of Jacob, "and he went to sleep." I might agree with someone’s objection to elevating this to a precedent setting event were it not for the fact that someone else, other than Jacob, has done it. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (2 Cor. 13:1 KJV). I could, for example, easily remind you of the night the "professional" fishermen from Galilee were being tossed around on the sea’s stormy breast like a cork with a catfish on the end of the line. The boat was awash with waves, so much so that the "professional" guys cried, "boys, we’re going down as sure as our names are Peter, James, and John!"
But wait! Take a look at this bit of commentary describing that night of turbulence and near death on the Sea of Galilee. "And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?…And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" (Mk. 4:37-38,40 KJV).
1. It was a great storm of wind.
2. The waves beat into the ship.
3. So that the ship was now full.
4. Jesus is asleep on a pillow.
5. The disciples had no faith.
Does this event stretch the bounds of reality for you? It does for me. Jesus did not have a pillow of stones but the scene fits every criterion for our story of Jacob and how it is possible to sleep when one is "between a rock and a hard place." But there is yet another example. It comes from one of the most familiar stories in the Book of Acts. "And he [King Herod] killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also…And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison;…And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison" (Acts. 12:1-6 KJV).
You know how the story ends with Peter’s miraculous deliverance by the hand of an angel. And you also can see all the elements in this story that scream the possibilities of sleeping, Jacob-like, in the hard place. Jesus was sleeping through the disaster at sea. Peter lost no ZZZZZ’s the night before the day of his scheduled death at the executioner’s sword. What might be our excuse for not following the example set by Jesus and by Peter? Fear? Lack of faith? For the disciples upon the stormy sea, it was fear born of a lack of faith.
Fear is a faith killer.
Faith is a fear killer.
I have a question and then I want to give a story to illustrate my point. Question: how much fight is in you when you are faced with what can be considered an impossible challenge? Here’s my story.
W.A. Criswell, longtime Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas until he retired several years ago, told a story about an Evangelist who loved to hunt. The Evangelist went out and bought two top-notch setters. He kept them in his back yard, where he trained them One morning, an ornery little vicious-looking bulldog came down the alley. He crawled under the fence and before long he and the two setters were at it tooth and nail. At first the Evangelist thought about putting his setters in the basement to avoid a confrontation, but then decided just to let the little bulldog learn a lesson. After a few moments of scuffling with the setters the bulldog decided he’d had enough and he squeezed back under the fence and went home to lick his sores. The next morning the same thing happened . . . same time . . . same place. And the next morning, and the next. Each morning the bulldog showed up, crawled under the fence, got the stuffing beat out of him and retreated back under the fence and down the alley. After that time the Evangelist had to leave for several weeks to go and conduct a revival meeting. When he returned, he asked his wife about the bulldog and the setters. She replied, "You’ll never believe what happened. Every day that little bulldog came back in the back yard and fought with the two setters. He never missed a day. It has come to the point now that when our setters simply hear him coming down the alley and see him squeezing under the fence, they immediately start whining and run down into the basement. The bulldog comes into the backyard and struts around like he owns it."
Maybe you feel that you have "crawled under the fence" one time too many. Maybe you feel you don’t have enough energy to crawl under one more time. Maybe you feel you have had enough of the stuffing being beat out of you. What can I say? What can I say that will act as a helping hand to lift you back up to your feet and encourage you to know you are not alone? You may, like Jacob, be lying in a hard place feeling alone, uncertain of the future.
I want to remind you that when Jacob, "lay down in that place" (Gen. 28:11), the Lord appeared to him. He learned via the vision of a ladder that communication between heaven and earth was possible. Angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth shows him that God’s "messengers" are plying God’s business constantly. But, to me, this is the best part: "And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God . . . I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest…I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (Gen 28:12-15 KJV).
1. "The Lord stood above it." He is standing "above" our circumstances, problems, cares, our "pillows of stone."
2. He is "the LORD God." He is the Ruler of everything. There is no match to his power and might to save.
3. "I am with thee…will keep thee…will not leave thee." What faith building promises, full of assurance and comfort. A sound just like something Jesus promised and does today.
4. "I will do all I have promised." "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Nu. 23:19 KJV).
Don’t miss this! "And Jacob AWAKED OUT OF HIS SLEEP [emphasis mine], and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not" (Gen. 28:16 KJV). To those of us who find it difficult to "see" any good in the things that are happening as we spend time in the HardRock Motel let us hear the words of Paul. He says, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Eph. 5:14 KJV). Jacob woke up and said, "The Lord has been in the HardRock Motel—AND I DIDN’T KNOW IT!"
May we "awake" from our complaining.
May we "awake" from our whining.
May we "awake" from feeling sorry for ourselves.
May we awake from making excuses.
May we "awake" from blaming others.
May we "awake" to a full awareness of God’s promise, provision and presence!
Here is one of the most powerful confessions of faith one can speak during the time one spends in the HardRock Motel. Let David’s confession be yours. He said, "O LORD, thou has searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. THOU COMPASSEST MY PATH AND MY LYING DOWN, AND ARE ACQUAINTED WITH ALL MY WAYS [emphasis mine]. … Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee" (Ps. 139:1-3, 7-12 KJV).
My hope and prayer is that if you find yourself in a hard place where your pillow, like Jacob’s, is a rock that you will let your faith speak through the discomfort. Believe that God stands above your circumstances and is master of them. Believe that He is the LORD, God, Almighty and the promise of His—I am with thee, I will keep thee, I will not leave thee and I will keep every promise I have made to thee—will be fully realized.
Let us pray: "Kind, loving and caring Heavenly Father, we turn to you, our souls seeking solace and rest. We remember Your word saying, "a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." We confess that our Savior, Jesus, is our hiding place. We come to Him to find shelter and comfort from the tempest. He is the great rock to shadow us in this weary place. Thank you for giving Your strength to those who are weary in heart and body. Bind them with the bonds of Your peace. Strengthen them with might by Your Holy Spirit in their innermost being. In the name of Jesus we pray.
Chorus: Open our eyes Lord,
We want to see Jesus.
To reach out and touch Him
And say that we love Him.
Open our ears Lord,
Help us to listen.
Open our eyes Lord,
We want to see Jesus.
(Author unknown)
