Daily Devotion – July 28, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Genesis 32:22-31
32:22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.
32:24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
32:25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
32:26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”
32:27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
32:28 Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”
32:29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.
32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”
32:31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
We already know Jacob is audacious enough to suggest his “elder” twin brother trade Jacob his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. We know he himself was tricked out of the bride of his choice but worked an additional 7 years to get her. He is one of those people that will never give up.
One result of this tenacity shows up in this story that takes place at the Jabbok river. He is alone, after sending his wives, kids, servants, and livestock across, remaining behind to make sure there were no stragglers, nothing lost. He is on his way to meet his estranged brother Esau, having sent gifts to appease him beforehand, and even dividing his own party into two groups, so that if Esau coming with all his men should find one party, the other can yet escape.
He may even be about to cross the river himself, but “a man wrestled with him until daybreak.” Someone held him back from crossing, wrestling with him. Jacob did not give up, even when the other man tried to get him to stop, so the man dislocated Jacob’s hip. Even then, Jacob wouldn’t release him until he blessed Jacob. The man asks his name, and when Jacob tells, him, the man renames him Israel, basically meaning “the winner of fights with God and man”. The man would not reveal his own name, so Jacob took the man to be God or an angel.
Would anyone call you a fighter? Someone who has wrestled with God and with humans and prevailed? What might we learn from this audacious, even sly man who never gave up, ever?
One thing is sure: if you are not afraid to wrestle and stick with it, if you are untiring in your pursuits, and if you ask for a blessing, God apparently will not let you down. God likes you. You don’t have to be perfect, clearly. You don’t have to be righteous in everything, to never make a mistake. What you do have to do is be God’s never tiring child and hang in there, asking for blessings.
Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, Teach us how you want us to be. Teach us that we can be whoever you made us to be, with all our flaws, and that you will bless our persistence.Then teach us what you want us to use our persistence for.Amen.
