I may not see in front of me, But I can see for miles around when I look over my shoulder, and Lord, it`s clear. You`ve brought me here, So faithful every step of the way. What can I do but follow you, For You are the Way, the Truth, the Life, And You`ve promised never to leave me, My Savior, my friend, From beginning to end.
I Am Found In You
by
Steven Curtis Chapman
and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 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. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." Genesis 32:24b-26 NIV
Have you ever wrestled with God? Jacob did. I am convinced, based on reading the rest of the passage, that Jacob had a one on one experience with the Living God. Jacob had a mission to meet his brother Esau for the first time in 20 years. He had been hiding all this time, and God wanted him to right the wrongs of the past. God had an appointment for Jacob that would mold his character forever.
Jacob had come to this place, all alone, because he simply didn't know how to face the day he had ahead. Ever have days like that? Have you ever been in a place so desperate - where you needed an answer so bad - that you felt like you couldn’t go forward in life until you had a peace or an answer?
We want everything quick and easy, don't we? We don’t like the idea of a struggle. But sooner or later, something big will face us and we find out we’re way out of shape. Wrestling on our own has not prepared us for the really tough opponents of life. When we face a heavy weight problem we sometimes just aren't ready to battle, at least not on our own.
Jacob was in trouble. He was desperate. He was wrestling with lifelong problems and patterns. He was wrestling with being on the run for twenty years. He was wrestling with the fear of meeting his brother; possibly even facing death. He needed answers, and in a most unusual fashion, God came down in a physical form to test his endurance and determination. He came to see how bad Jacob wanted help. They wrestled together all night long. It is a reminder to us that sometimes our problems in life cannot be solved on our own. We need that personal intervention, that personal touch from God.
Jacob faced a God-sized encounter with God, Himself, so that God might show Jacob his dependancy on God. When the wrestling match was over, and Jacob realized who he had been fighting, Jacob knew his life had really been spared. He came to know God in a more intimate way.
Are you facing something difficult? Is your need great? Are you tired of being the way you are? Are you sick of the life of sin, your failure to give all to God, to being fully "sold-out" for Him? How bad do you want it? Are you willing to wrestle with God until you work it out?
Sometimes God has to break us in order to make us!
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All materials © 2008 Richard G. Schlief.
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