The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’
‘Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome…Then he blessed him there.” Genesis 32:26b-29
I gotta say…there is a lot in this exchange that I don’t understand. However, I know what it is to wrestle with God and with men. So much of life can be a struggle. There are times in life that you can feel immensely alone in this great big world. Earlier in the text we see that as Jacob was preparing to meet his brother Esau for the first time in years, he sent his family, servants and all his possessions ahead of him and that night, Jacob was all alone. I can only wonder at his thoughts that evening as he gazed up at the stars. Tomorrow would bring the unknown and he knew that whatever his encounter would be like with Esau that it would change his life forever. Jacob fell into the biggest wrestling match of his life. He knew that he couldn’t go any farther in his life without the blessing of God. To go on in his own strength would be pointless
I have felt this fight at times. Even lately my cry has been, “God if you don’t go with me, I don’t want to go at all. Lord, I’m grabbing a hold of you and I’m not letting go. I can do nothing without you. I beg you to not leave me and my family to walk through this life in our own strength and power. My family will fail; I will fail. We will be a shell of what we were meant to be. I won’t let go of you, Lord. We need you! I will wrestle with you until the break of day if needed but only don’t leave us until we walk in your hand of blessing.”
