Jacob’s story was a messed-up story; sibling rivalry, deceit, polygamy; and yet in Psalm 46 God refers to Himself as the God of Jacob
Psalm 46 v 10-11
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Note in this Psalm that God refers to Himself, not only as the God of an imperfect man, but the same man that wrestles with God Genesis 32 v 22-32
There is our public persona and our private persona. I was having a conversation with a friend recently, a person of faith, and I proposed to him that we all have a degree of self-delusion within us. And that when asked to evaluate ourselves, we would all paint ourselves in a good light. I went on further (the friend is a divorcee) to suggest that, if I were to ask his ex-wife to say something about him, that she would paint a different picture. My friend of course mentioned that his ex-wife would be biased. But that was not the point, the point is we all see ourselves in a good light, while others see us in a different light. The point of all this is self-justification. We are all aware of what is acceptable in public, which is determined by the norms and values of the society. We are aware that nobody is perfect, so some Christians say and pretend publicly that nobody is perfect, but privately, especially Christians that believe in salvation as a result of their works, thinks, and believe that they are perfect and justified before God, they are therefore intolerant of those they perceive as less than themselves, imperfect, sinners, or those that do not belong to their clique, group, sect, denomination, shared man-made or defined notion of “saved” ones or “Noah’s ark passengers”.
The pharisees (the teachers of the Law) came up with tenets, rules and regulation to supplement Gods precepts, and made it impossible for the ordinary folks to achieve perfection, after given the ordinary folks the impression that they had to have perfection. They themselves, in public gave a show of their piety, and perfection, their clothing and regalia indicated that they are white (pious), with symbols that indicated their rank which corresponds to how high they’ve climbed on the stairways to heaven. Matthew 15 v 1-13: Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honour your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honour their father or mother’ with it. Thus, you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
However, throughout the scripture God has shown that, we His creation, are not perfect and in His plan, design and execution of the project Salvation, He has and continues to use us, as imperfect as we are, thieves, liars, murderers, adulterers, prostitutes, and so on, if we see ourselves as we truly are and accept our imperfections and weaknesses. The Lord detest the proud: Proverbs 16 v 5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
When we see ourselves as we are and realise that God is made perfect in our weakness, 2 Corinthians 12 v 9; But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
