120119-Jacob loses a wrestling match - and wins - Genesis 32-33

S: And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. (Ge 32:9-12).

O: I think this is the first real prayer of Jacob's that is recorded. I would call Gen. 28:20-22 a vow, even though he addresses God in the first person in v. 22. That fits my picture of Jacob to this point, living by his wits and bargaining with God. God's promises have been pure grace - not based on Jacob's deeds. Now is the time of reckoning with his past, and God is the initiator, showing Jacob His strength by a visible company of angels. (vv. 1-2) Jacob responds by claiming God's direction and His promise.

A: I would say he's still under a lot of stress because the meeting is coming up; and he's still trying to be shrewd by dividing his company and sending the children and gifts ahead of him. But I think the wrestling with God is a picture of prayer. Jacob tests God, trying, like always, to gain advantage by force. But God forces him to confess his name and will not yet tell him His own. The victory is not won by natural means, for God touches him and supernaturally cripples him. It would remind him all his life that "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong... nor yet favor to men of skill" (Ecc. 9:11) God takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. (Ps. 147:10) It is "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit..." (Zech. 4:6)

P: Father, it seems you taught prayer and then faith, in Jacob's life. Prayer is an act of faith, primarily of humility and recognition of my limitations. Faith is learning to count on you. Thank you for your supernatural work in Jacob's life -- and in mine.

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