Genesis 32:26-28 NIV
26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
“They are words God has waited over forty years to hear. He would have preferred that Jacob recognize his helplessness and cast himself on the mercy of his God long before. He did not wish to reduce him to such an extremity, but Jacob left him little choice. And God’s response is swift in coming. Jacob had conquered by his helpless dependency. Is God wrestling with you? If so, what makes you resist? Greed? (He wants to give you of his bounty) Fear? (He alone can free you of it.) You must play it your way just this once? (You are a fool.)” (White, John. Daring to Draw Near: People in Prayer. InterVarsity Press. Kindle location 309.)
The conquering victory that occurs in Jacob’s life was no longer to dominate by deceitfulness. Instead, the victory of God’s people comes when we are conquered by our helpless dependency on God.
Prayer: God, we confess our helplessness and cast ourselves on your mercy. We surrender and utterly depend on you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let’s sing, “Battle Belongs” by Phil Wickham (click here).
-AW
