If God's throne seems to rock, can our hand steady it? Some appear to think so. One such was Jacob. God had clearly stated that he should rule, and in all he did he aimed only to forward God's plans. He saw God's election and he embraced it. But then one day he learned that his father had sent Esau hunting with a view to giving him the blessing instead. If that was allowed to happen, then where was God's promise?
Something must be done! The clever, capable Jacob was also a crafty schemer, so he set out to do for God what it looked as though God could not do for Himself. To achieve it he lied to his father and cheated Esau. But what he seemed to gain from his cheating had to be abandoned, and he was forced to flee. Yes, he was God's choice, God wanted him, but as yet he knew neither God nor himself. What in fact he received was a severe dose of divine discipline. Clever people need and get a lot of that!
Today in the Church as the body of Christ, we need to know how to be still before we walk, and how to sit before we run. The cleverness of our minds counts for nothing with God. God is not into the mind business but He is into the business of our heart. God is into heart knowing, not head knowledge. Clever intellectuals, like us, are at a great disadvantage when we first enter the Kingdom of God! God does not need our brains - He needs our will! God must therefore so deal with us as to cause us to be still, to humble ourselves before Him, and to be willing to deny all the cleverness of our mind. God must become so exalted in us that we may know Him in experience and know ourselves also.