And it didn't even need a push start

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,

Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD gives freedom to the prisoners.

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous.

The LORD watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.

This is the God of Jacob.  

The God of the Schemer, the Liar and the Manipulator.  The Dreamer of a long ladder reaching to heaven. The One who labored long and hard. The Betrayed.   The One who wrestled with God and would not let go. His very name means The One who grasps the heel or the Deceiver. 

And yet he was greatly blessed of God.  Not because of who he was or what he did, but because of Who God Is. The Great I Am.

And yesterday I meditated all day, well, pretty much all day, on these verses.  

Jack is in Colombia and Sunday he preached a sermon on Psalm 77 which he shared with me, because, well it has been my experience. When we face those moments, the moments of trouble of doubt of feeling spurned of uncomfort of troubled soul, we are to meditate on Him, both His nature and His faithful works of old.

And Psalm 146 is all about His nature and His faithful works. Who He Is and What is His Heart.  His TO DO list looks very different than the word on the street, but it is what is true.  

And it is once again it is a reminder to put not my trust in princes, nor in the sons of man, in whom there is no help, and whose way will be turned upside down, but to put my trust in Him.  And to not put my trust in myself either.  My way is turned upside down more times than I would like to think, but to put my trust in Him.

Nicole has a great little story about this God of Jacob.  The after-church-hang-around-the-pool-moment changed into the Let’s-drive-up-to-Gate’s Pass-in-the- Safari moment with some of her Upper Room friends this Sunday.  The friends who had asked, “Do these cars of your dad even run?” friends.

So they popped down the hood, popped into the car and drove off to the gas station to fill ‘er up, but the car would not start again.  At all.  And everyone knew something about cars and Nicole surely knows all the little tricks of gently urging The Thing forward. With a good dollop of the despair of having borrowed your daddy’s car. But nothing.  

So this guy drove up.  A really nice guy who asked if he could help and made a small joke or two about borrowing cars from your daddy.  And one of Nicole’s friends, being one of Nicole’s friends, asked if he knew Jesus.  And he said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I grew up in the Church.”

But when they prayed over him, a blessing of love and hope from the God of Jacob, the man began to weep. And when Nicole said in Spanish “...that right now God wants you to know He supports you, He’s protecting you. Right now I see God picking you up out of your circumstances, and putting you on high ground. In the Bible there's the story of Noah in the ark, after the floods came and destroyed the earth he sent out a dove and it was circling circling looking for a place to land...finally he sent it out and it came back with a leaf that symbolized hope, that life could grow again."

The man in the white van whose name was Jesus had tears in his eyes and he said, "I can't believe this is happening right now...I just can't believe it. Look at my arms, I have goosebumps all over.” Then Nicole said that she saw him “...with two angel wings on either side of you, and God is picking you up and showing you where to stand,” and Jesus did a little play on words in Spanish, "You mean two "devil horns?” Making the gesture with his hand (in Spanish, "cuernitos" means "cuckold"), which is not a good thing.  And he wept some more.  And said he never drove around in his van, but he had left his house because he didn’t know what else to do, and drove and drove, and was pulling up to the Circle K to buy alcohol, a lot of alcohol.  And he never offered to help people, but he did this time.  And Hector spoke some more words of love and hope from the God of Jacob, and a great peace descended.  

And the guy smiled and said, “I bet your car will work now.” 

And it did.  And they went on their way rejoicing. 

The LORD raises those who are bowed down. 

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, 

Whose hope is in the Lord his God.