Groove

I have a reoccurring day dream when I walk into a room full of people that involves a futuristic DJ playing “Play that Funky Music White Boy” upon my entrance. A disco ball shows up out of nowhere and suddenly I am dressed in a white leisure suit dancing like John Travolta while everyone crowds around me swaying back and forth to the music.

I don’t know if I should have publically admitted that but whatever.

The point is in every situation I find myself in I immediately look for my groove. I am always listening for “my jam” to play and always looking for a sweet spot in life that just feels right. I want the music of my life to be the song that I know all the words to and exactly what the beat sounds like.

I like crossing things off my to-do list without having a panic attack as to how I am going to get things done. I like knowing exactly what to expect from the coming day so that I can become master of everything I am involved in. I like being the guy who is the expert at everything he does with an answer for every question and is always getting stuff done with excellence. I like knowing everybody well enough to be in a position of influence in their lives.

Who could blame me?

It seems like searching for our groove, our niche, our place in society is the most natural thing we can do in any new circumstance we find ourselves in. The problem is that grooves quickly turn into ruts that we find ourselves hopelessly trapped in without ever realizing how we got stuck in the first place. Every day we pursue a “groove” that feels right with a natural rhythm to our lives and when we finally get it we realize that getting out of it is impossible. All of the sudden, God is asking something from us and calling us to a deeper level and even though we want with everything inside of us to comply we cannot get out of the groove we have dug ourselves into.

God never wants us to get into such a groove with our life that we start to think we can do life without Him.

Maybe you are not supposed to know where the money is going to come from to pay all those bills. Maybe you are not supposed to know how you will ever find the time to do all the things demanded of you. Maybe you are not supposed to live a life where you know all the answers.

The redemption of mankind came through the chosen people of Israel. These people descended from a man named Jacob whose name literally meant “deceiver.” Now, naming the chosen people of God after their father the deceiver seems like a really bad idea for public relations. So God decides to change Jacob’s name but not to something you or I might expect. While Jacob is waiting to meet with his brother Esau for the first time since he manipulated him into stealing both his birthright and his blessing in Genesis chapter 32, he wrestles with a man all night who we later find to be the “Angel of the Lord.” This angel, who most theologians believe to be a physical pre-Christ incarnation of God Himself dislocates Jacob’s hip and declares that he will no longer be called Jacob but from then on will be referred to as “Israel.”

Now I like to think that “Israel” would be ancient Hebrew for “God’s favorite,” but it is not. Instead, it means “one who struggles with God₁.”

God chose to name the people that would carry His presence into the world after a struggle. The name rang true all the way through Jewish history and even up to the present. The Israelites have been defined by their struggles with God and the things He asked them to do. We know them for their failures in following God just as much as their victories. They are the ones who “struggle” with God.

What if our lives as Christ followers are supposed to be a struggle? What if we are never supposed to find that groove where everything feels right in our life because until we are in heaven with Jesus nothing ever will be right? What if our lives are not supposed to be comfortable and easily explained?

I never want to live a life so narrowed by my ability to explain it all away. I never want to live a life so boring that I can control it all myself without the hand of a miraculous God. I do not want total control of what I have already promised my Creator.

So God, keep me in places that confuse me. Keep me at the bottom of social ladders and buried in impossible tasks. Keep me totally dependent on you so that my life will be defined by a struggle that you and I have overcome.

 

_{1-"Israel." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.}