To My Daughters,
Jacob was left alone...Solitude for some is the last place they want to be. Solitude means being alone with yourself...alone with your thoughts, fears and anxieties. This is where we find Jacob, alone and probably filled with anxiety and fear. Perhaps understanding with heart knowledge for the first that he was not in control...that no amount of deceiving and conniving would save him or his family from harm. It is here, at his point of need, where His God met him.
Hosea 12:4 identifies this Man with whom Jacob wrestled as the Angel of the Lord. He is also identified as God, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 30 Jacob names the place of his struggle as Peniel which means literally the face of God. Jacob wrestled and struggled with God Himself!
Most of us can relate to Jacob. Our own self-will keeps us from God's best and away from the right path. God wanted to do a work in Jacob, but Jacob was not in a place of surrender. For in God's world the way into His presence and to victory is in surrender. Jacob did not surrender...not until God crippled him. God did not want to cripple him, but sometimes (okay, most times) God has got to weaken us to enable us to see ourselves for the miserable, weak, helpless sinners that we are. A good shepherd will break a wandering lamb's leg to save its life. He will then carry that lamb on his shoulders until its legs heal. By the time the healing occurs the lamb has grown to love the shepherd and wants to remain close to his side.
This is what God did to Jacob. Jacob had a tendency to stray, go his own way and do things in his own strength. There is a way that seems right to man, the bible says, but its end is destruction. Jacob's limp would always remind him of his weakness...it was a wound from a Faithful Friend who loved Him, wanted the best for him and most importantly did not want to see him perish. Jacob now understood as the apostle Paul did that when he was weak, he was strong.
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.--2nd Corinthians 12:7-10
God had blessed Jacob materially..now He wanted to bless Him even more abundantly. He wanted to fill Jacob with Himself and place His desires on His heart. This is what Jacob wanted...this is what he desired.
And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"
Jacob's struggle, as ours are til the day we die, was with himself. His spirit was willing but his flesh was weak. We are our own worst enemy...me, myself and I always get in the way of the work God wants to do in our lives.. The Angel of God responds to Jacob's demand for a blessing by asking him what his name was. Now God did not ask him his name because he did not know it. He asked him his name because he wanted Jacob to face who he was in his flesh...a deceiver and a heel catcher. If Jacob wanted to be blessed by God he needed to admit who he was and allow His God to change Him. Upon this admission, Jacob got a new name. Israel....which literally means ruled by God or God empowered prince. God cannot trust us with His work and His power unless we are under His authority...surrendered to His will. Jacob was crippled in the battle but victory was his because now instead of being ruled by self...He was ruled by God and became one of the patriarchs of God's chosen people.
Ask God to rule in your life. Lay down your will and accept His. Look at yourself...really look. Admit your need and God will meet you. Even if you have been walking with the Lord a long time there will be much you will find as the Lord peels away the "you" layers that you have not laid down. Ask God to show you these. Know that as you lay them down, you are not laying down anything that is good for you. You are laying down those things that interfere with all that God has for you...the things that interfere with the work He wants to do in you and through you. As you surrender to Him by faith and allow Him to rule your life, His grace will be there and His goodness and mercy will abound.
Love
Mom
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