Fighting with God
Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. - (Genesis 32:24)
Jacob had, in effect, fought with God for years. He was quite the conniver, always negotiating, always working out a deal that would benefit him. When his father, Isaac, was getting old and senile and almost blind, Jacob covered himself in animal hair and fooled his dad into thinking it was Esau. Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob, believing he was giving it to Esau. That resulted in a sibling rivalry that lasted for a lifetime.
Jacob’s manipulative ways caught up with him, however, and when we come to Genesis 32, we find him running for his life. Then we read, “Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. . . . And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’” (verses 24–26).
I believe this was a Christophany,an appearance of Jesus before Bethlehem. I believe Jacob was wrestling with Jesus Himself. I think Jesus sort of humored Jacob a little by letting him score a point or two. But the fight went on until Jacob went from cunning to clinging, from resisting to resting. He started out fighting with God, and he ended up hanging on to God. He refused to let go until the Lord blessed him. And that is what the Lord was looking to do.
Like Jacob, we sometimes fight with God. God says, “I want to do this,” but we’ll refuse. So He will let us have our little wrestling matches. And eventually we’ll realize we’re tired of fighting with God.
What we need to do is honor the Lord and do what His Word says. He will open doors for us. Jacob didn’t believe that, and he reaped the consequences.
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