Meditations

​”And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of day… and the man touched Jacob’s hip socket and put it out of joint.. Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ And the man asked Jacob, ‘What is your name?’ And he answered, ‘Jacob.’ Then he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.’ ” (Gen 32:24-28)

We’ve all been there. Some nights may have been worse than others, but although our pain may have been excruciating, we did not die. “Everyone has known the long night of going to bed with something terrible on their mind – we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders for something we’ve said or done which has hurt someone else and disappointed our best Friend and Savior. Picture Peter trying to sleep after his day of betraying Jesus three times. Peter made it through, but Judas didn’t. For those who choose Peter and Jacob’s path the following morning, the Lord has new assignments awaiting that they will now be able to handle because they will have a new identity in Him, and a new walk in life, and a new confidence in their relationship with the God who got even closer to them in their time of greatest need.” (David Jeremiah)

For those who think their bad nights outnumber their good ones by such an enormous amount that God must certainly have given up on them, there is great comfort in the story of Jacob. Here was a man born with a name that could have meant two things: either “holder of the heel,” or “a deceiver.” Both were certainly true of Jacob. But in spite of Jacob’s life of deceiving others, God stayed beside him. “Jacob had spent most of his life wrestling with others – Esau, Isaac, Laban, and even his wives – so God came to him as a wrestler. God meets us at whatever level He finds us in order to lift us to where He wants us to be. But before we can receive His blessing, we must face ourselves and admit who we are. God certainly knew Jacob’s name, but He needed to be sure Jacob was willing to be changed inside and out. This is the first step toward ridding ourselves of those sleepless nights.” (John MacArthur) We’re no good to Jesus or anyone else when we’re dead in our sins, but when we turn back to Him, we’ll always find Him waiting right beside us. (1 John 1:9-10)

David