The Un-Series: Week 4 Day 6

Genesis 32:22-32

22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 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. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Striving for the unattainable is exhausting and Jacob only knew how to strive. He wrestled with his brother, his father, and his father-in-law over favor and blessings. Now, upon meeting his brother Esau, he prayed for God’s protection, but he also put together an elaborate scheme. Just before the passage we read today Jacob divided his extensive assets in two, hoping to protect at least half of what he had. Then Jacob arranged a parade of gifts to be presented to his brother Esau hoping that Esau’s heart would soften by the time Jacob got to him. After sending his wives and sons across the stream, along with the other half of his possessions, he then remained alone for the night.

I can’t imagine the wrestling match that was going on in Jacob’s mind even before he encountered this stranger. Did he do enough? Would his plan work? Would he finally get to relax and enjoy his abundance a little once he was free of Laban and Esau? Jacob’s physical wrestling was a picture of how he had lived his whole life: striving, scheming, struggling. The angel of the Lord gave him a new name, Israel. It was time to put an end to the struggle. God had blessed him, and he need not try and orchestrate his own blessings.

Are you exhausted? Are you tired of trying to orchestrate your own blessings? Are you weary of scheming your way through life? Stop striving! There is rest in the mercy and forgiveness found only through Jesus Christ. There is a new life to be lived, filled with the Holy Spirit, living as God intended.

What heights of love! What depths of peace.

Where fears are stilled, where strivings cease.

My comforter, my all in all

Here in the love of Christ I stand. 

Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, "In Christ Alone" (Thankyou Music, 2001).