MERRY MONDAY BY Parris Bailey
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.Gen 32:24
All of us at some point will be arrested by the Holy Spirit. We don’t set out in life to do so, but sooner or later we just get ahead of ourselves. The whole problem is we like Jacob, still maintain confidence in ourselves. But if we are to go forward things need changing. Real strength comes in divine weakness.
In Jacob’s nature his major propensity was to fight for what he desired and win what he aimed at. God shows us how utterly futile our skill and obstinacy are. How quickly he was mastered by the angel. It was this touch of the almighty one that Jacob asks for a blessing. Jacob’s whole nature goes down before God, as if he was thrown on his back. Like Jacob we pass from wrestling to praying to tears. Out of the supplanter comes a Prince! (Expositor Bible)
Face to face with God hanging helpless with his arms around him! We see Saul in the New Testament having this same encounter! Are you ready for the angel to grab a hold of you?
Jacob finds that just as his grandfather Abraham learned the simplicity of humble dependence, just as Isaac learned absolute resignation as he lay himself in the altar. Abraham had to give up all possessions to live off of the dependency of God. Isaac had to give up life itself, whereas Jacob had to give up his self and abandon all dependence on his ability. He enters the new land not as Jacob but as Israel. He wasn’t the same man that cheated Esau and outwitted Laban. He learned that the only way to receive from God is to just but ask. (Expositor Bible)
“As Jacob passed from Peniel the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh”.
What do you see when the darkness comes? Jacob saw the world shadowed by his guilt. Old memories awakened, old fears rose up from the past in which he had tried to bury them. He was in the grip of power which his self assurance could not match. Never again would he walk in such a lofty manner. The shallow may ignore his sins, the cowardly many try to evade their consequences. But an encounter with God will change us into another man. That is the only way we can face our Esaus. My God grabbed a hold of your thigh and make you into another man.
Charles Wesley sang:
“Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair
Speak to my heart in blessing seek
Be conquered by my instant prayer.”