Keeping in mind this new bigger set of clothes that God wants us to grow into with each passing year, let’s return to Genesis for the story of Jacob wrestling all night long with a stranger who turns out to be the Lord Himself (Genesis 32:22-32).
Remember that Jacob did not get “grandfathered” into his faith despite having Father Abraham for a grandsire. When he had to run away from the family homestead having pulled one too many “fast-ones” on his brother Esau, a vision of angels going up and down a ladder convinced him to take notice of his father’s God. But it was merely a conditional attachment. Jacob wanted God to prove Himself.
By the time he gets to this wrestling scene, however, Jacob has realized that God has more than made good on the divine promises. The problem remains that Jacob is still scared to face the brother he knows he wronged.
“God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, … I don’t deserve all the love and loyalty you’ve shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me—two camps! Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother!” (Genesis 32:9-12)
Funny how we can acknowledge wonderful things God has done for us but then still obsess over our current problems. Will God come through for us again – and in Jacob’s case, when he’s far from “worthy”?
Yet, look how God handles this human anxiety. Jacob and the Stranger fight for hours with neither emerging as superior until, at daybreak, the Adversary easily dislocates Jacob’s hip. Since God clearly could have bested Jacob at any moment, we have to ask why the Lord kept the battle going all night. What happens in our relationship with God when the Almighty treats us as a creditable opponent?
In Jacob’s case, though he literally and figuratively lacks a leg to stand on, the result is that Jacob demands – and receives – the Lord’s blessing. Sometimes we have to have it out with God in order to obtain the blessing that will enable us to face our challenges.
It’s amazing the lengths the Lord will go to get us to understand our need for God!
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