22-23 But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions.
24-25 But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint. (The Message)
Jacob has fled from his father-in-law and now is facing the meeting with his brother, who the last time he saw him was trying to kill him. In the middle of this Jacob has an encounter with God that leaves him wounded yet blessed. It shouldn't be like that though. Our encounters with God should be filled with healing and blessings not wounds and pain. We want a God who blesses us in the ways we want to be blessed.
I wish I knew what it was that Jacob was wrestling with God about. I could fill in a lot of possibilities simply because I have spent my own time wrestling with God. But the reality of the wrestling is more important than the reason for the wrestling. Jacob must have left something behind that night that he had really wanted. Maybe it was the approval and love that he had to trick out of his father instead of it being freely given. Maybe it was the one big happy family dream that was never going to happen. But what he left was replaced by God with something even more. It didn't mean that leaving the dream behind didn't wound Jacob but it also didn't keep him from fully experiencing the life that God intended for him.
Maybe it is time to do some wrestling with God again.
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- Who do you think Jacob feared more that night; Esau, Laban, or God? Why?
- Has God ever wrestled a dream away from you? Was it easy or hard?
- Are you more likely to do everything to avoid painful situations or face it head on if you know you can't avoid it?
- What dream/expectation are you holding on to that might actually be keeping you from fully embracing life?
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