February 08, 2024 | Be God's Light
Jacob Wrestles with an Angel & His Past
Scripture: Genesis 32:22-33:20(NIV)
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
1 Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. 2 He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. 3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.
Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
6 Then the female servants and their children approached and bowed down. 7 Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.
8 Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?”
“To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” he said.
9 But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”
10 “No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 11 Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”
13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. 14 So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me and the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”
“But why do that?” Jacob asked. “Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. 17 Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth.
18 After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. 20 There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.
Devotional
After twenty years in exile from his family in Canaan, Jacob had accumulated two wives and their two servant girls. These four women produced eleven sons for Jacob. In addition, he amassed great wealth, large flocks of sheep and goats, numerous camels and donkeys, and a great number of servants. This impressive entourage would travel hundreds of miles across difficult terrain.
There was one problem. Jacob’s older brother Esau was back at home, waiting for him. Twenty years earlier Esau promised to kill his little brother for robbing him of his birthright and blessing. In preparation for what could be a hostile reunion, Jacob divided his people and livestock into two groups, thinking one could escape if his older brother attacked the other. He was gripped with fear.
Jacob was paralyzed by his past. But both the angel and his brother were more interested in his future. The angel blessed Jacob and renamed him Israel, which means “he struggles with God.” Esau embraced Jacob and welcomed him back into the family homeland. The past was past. The future was now.
Later in Israel’s history, this theme of moving on from the past would continue to come up. In Isaiah 43:18-19, the Lord said, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”
This is how it is with our lives as well. Jesus has called us out of our past and into His bountiful future. Philippians 3:12-14 says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Are there some things from your past that are holding you back? How is God calling you to forget them and let go of them? How would moving on from them help you as you step into God’s preferred future?
Poem
Bruised Hip
In restless sleep I dreamed a dream
So violent and so real it seemed
The straining, gripping, pinning down
Of all the weakness in me
I'd throw a left to get some space
To land a right upon a face
So hidden, holy, regal crowned
Not wanting to be 'round me
My filth, my stain, my ugly sin
My past, my present, all within
It threw me, sweaty, to the ground
Counting loud its vict'ry
But something in me won't let go
There is a blessing, this I know
Much better than the one I stole
The one I sought usurping
The blessing, first intent for me
The blessing which will set me free
The blessing now to know, my God
The one I've always wanted
It wasn't wealth or glorious fame
It wasn't mine to win my name
But long instead to see God's face
The blessing leaves me limping
But now Your blessing's truly mine
Not stolen from my brother's line
But what You just intend for me
The one planned from beginning
A new day dawns, my hipbone aches
From blinded slumber, now awake
I see as I have never seen
My future now before me
What pain I caused, I carry now
Which each day's limp, I make a vow
To never grab or steal again
But trust the God I wrestled
I thank you, LORD, for this bruised hip
Your praise shall rise from pummeled lips
For Peniel I'll name this place
It's where Love finally won me
