Jacob Wrestles with the Angel of God

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Genesis 32:24-26

Steps: 1, 2, 3, 11, 12

Jacob has done everything he knows to do to make amends to Esau. He does not know what will happen this night. He sends his family back across the river in case anything goes wrong there is some hope that someone may make it out alive. He then goes to participate in his 11th step; he prays and meditates on the promises of God. While praying he feels a man’s hand on his shoulder and rather than assuming that it is God coming to bless him, he believes it is an enemy and wrestles all night long with this mysterious person. He is granted strength to fight all night long without giving up. As the day breaks and the sun starts to rise the Man puts forth His hand and touches Jacob’s thigh and dislocates it. The Man then tells Jacob to let Him go. Jacob refuses and holds on to the Man and recognizes that this Man is Jesus – the Son of God. He asks the greatest blessing that he can think of – he wants a direct blessing from God while the opportunity is there. Hosea 12:3-4 says that he wins in the fight and gets his blessing, so that his heart is finally at peace.

Prayer for Today: We don’t want to wrestle with You Lord, but we know that we will not have peace unless we spend enough time in prayer and meditation to wrestle with You. When we are done we pray that we will not give up this time. We have given up many times before and today we ask that we will not turn back but trust You long enough so that You can communicate with us and grant us Your blessing. Thank You that You have created these opportunities for us to receive Your blessings.