When He Hides His Face, Part Iii
God showed His face a few more times--like
when He and Jacob wrestled, God knows why,
but wrestle they did, all day and into the night,
and here's the thing: God couldn't beat him!
Jacob held God so tight the Almighty just
couldn't seem to break free (seem might be
the keyword here) and so He asked the mortal
what he wanted to let Him -- God!--go...
well, you or I might ask for tons of gold and
lots of fancy stuff, or to be forever young,
immortal and attractive and rich and healthy--
did I miss anything? But no, square old Jacob
just asks God to bless him! That's it, just a
blessing, like when you say 'God bless you'
(do people still say that anymore?) And then
he tells God he ain't gonna let Him loose till
he gets it, not until God blesses him....
And God must have been impressed. After all,
God knows human nature cause He made it,
with all its contradictions, with all its beauty
and all its ugly flaws, giving it great power
to create or destroy, do good or wreck evil,
to seek love and the heights of heaven
or wallow in hate, sinking soul to hell....
Of all the creatures, He freed only one
from the tyranny of instinct, giving
choice and hope and despair to only
one species-- all other animals, all the
fish and all the birds, all the predators
and all their prey He protected from
ever having to ask...Why?
And long after He hid His face,
He would know that some of
those blessed (cursed?) creatures
who felt compelled to question Him
would in a sort of deep blindness
conclude they are the way they are
because nature and chance somehow
linked to make them-- flukes really,
the flukes of the Universe: always
asking but not listening, seeing
but blind, powerful but so weak.
Perhaps Jacob sensed all this,
wise man that he was, asking
only to be blessed and not
asking for the whole world,
knowing as only few ever do
what really matters-- Eternity!
Copyright © L. J. Carber | Year Posted 2018
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