Thursday, August 2, 2012

ON THE NIGHT JACOB WRESTLED WITH GOD (GEN 32)

On the night Jacob wrestled with God, God blessed him.
Not with riches and numbers [though he had both]; but by making him admit how “alone”, “afraid and distressed” (32:7, 13) he was.

On the night Jacob wrestled with God, God made him powerful.
Not through youthful passion, determination and drive [which this Romeo and Rambo had more than most men in the Bible]; but through breaking him down mentally, emotionally [20 years of cheating and hard labor by the sifu deceiver Laban], physically [dislocated thigh] and spiritually.

On the night Jacob wrestled with God, he overcame himself.
Not because he had achieved status, independence, and “two companies” (32:10); but because he finally learned how “unworthy” he truly and always was before God. 

On the night Jacob wrestled with God, he found peace at last.
Not by presents of 550 goats, ewes, rams, camels, colts, cows, bulls and donkeys to his brother, Esau; but by coming into the presence of the holy God  - stripped of pretense, security, and deceit.  

On the night Jacob wrestled with God, he grew up and became a man.

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love the ocean - God made it for Himself

About Me

In the Old Testament in the Bible, there was a man named Jacob who "wrestled with God and man." He wouldn't let God go until God answered his prayers. God admired that and renamed him Israel, "the one who fought or wrestled and prevailed". He fought with man--his inner man--and conquered his own weaknesses. He's my hero. He is what I hope God and man see me to be.