This morning I read about Jacob wrestling with God.

His struggle for a blessing ended with a new name (Israel) and a permanent limp.

Life changed forever, spiritually and physically, when Jacob came face to face with God.

And  if we’re willing and ready, we too can have that kind of transformation.

After all our questions, doubts, fears and uncertainties are washed away in the tossing and turning of a night with God,

we can wake up changed forever.

But here’s the catch.

We have to be ready for the struggle.

We have to be ready to keep wrestling until God lets us go with a blessing.

And most of all, we have to be ready for the limp.that may follow.

The brokenness of the new us.

The never-the-same-kind-of life.

Fully aware of just how much we need Him and yet fully aware of just how much He loves us.

Today, you may be in that very struggle for a blessing.

Or you may be on the other side of a great season of wrestling and realize with every wincing step of who you once were.

Life may very well be a repetition of seasons of questioning, seasons of wrestling, and seasons of limping.

It’s critical to remember that in every single season God is there.

 

He’s listening.

He’s participating.

He’s working.

He’s answering.

He’s transforming.

He’s making us new.

He’s leaving His mark.

But most of all, He’s longing to bless.

Don’t be afraid of the struggle.

Don’t be afraid of the limp.

 

Jacob Wrestles With God

Gen. 32:22-31

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.  So Jacob was left alone,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.”

 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

 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.”

 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.