22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome."
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon. Genesis 32: 22-32
I have been praying and reflecting on Jacob and his fight. I am reminded that we have one enemy, and it is satan. Our enemy is not the circumstance, or the situation, or the person, or the job, or the relationship....it is satan himself. He roams the earth, seeking to devour, destroy, shame, humiliate, wound and degrade.
I am also reminded that we serve a sovereign God. I know that nothing happens to me by accident. I know that EVERYTHING passes through His loving hands first. I know that satan is a created being, he is not a CREATOR, but CREATED. He does not have equal footing with God, he is a created, fallen angel. Satan would have us believe that he is the Yin to God's Yang. That he is the equally powerful, opposing force to the goodness and mercy of God. Yet, we KNOW that he is a created being and under the authority of our loving Father.
So, with that said, everything passes through the loving hands of our Father first. Satan doesn't surprise God with his attacks...if we are walking through it, we can trust that God handled it first. So...why? Why the difficult circumstances? Why the difficult relationships? Why the sickness and disease? I would like to offer to you today the answer my heart has found to the WHY? For our sanctification and our spiritual growth. God allows us to walk through things so that we can come to a greater realization of who we are and Who we need.
If you are walking through a tough time now...I would offer to you to keep fighting, but, remember...you are not fighting with the person or the situation, relationship or circumstance. You are wrestling with God. Don't let go until you find the face of GOD in the battle. We can get so short sighted and we can hate our neighbor, be a victim in a circumstance, loose hope in the trenches of sickness. We can get lost in the earthly battle and we can judge and condemn, hate, despair, lament and fear...but - then we have not fought till we saw the face of God...we have aided satan is spread of a spiritual cancer.
If God is allowing you to walk through something...find a new perspective. Turn your eyes heavenly. What is God teaching you about YOUR nature in the wilderness? What is He allowing to ripple over you and through you to reveal about your character? Has God allowed this fight, so that HE can reveal a place in your heart that needs melting and softening? We wont find the face of God in the battle, if we focus on others short comings. What would happen if we took conflicts and sought the face of God? What if conflict was viewed as a spiritual strengthening exercise, rather than a place to judge, condemn and hate?
I would offer up to you that we are not fighting a "stranger" in the wilderness, we are fighting our sinful natures. So many times we can point the fingers at others and we can look at the plank in others eyes, and we will not have found the face of God. The beauty of our Savior is that He desires more and more of our hearts...so, I believe, He will continue to afford us the luxury of another battle in the wilderness, with our nature...until we battle through the night....we don't give in and we don't give up....until we can find the blessing in the battle Until we can see the face of God on the other side of our sanctified hearts, until we see our shortcomings through the eyes of the angel God afforded us to wrestle with.
Remember: We have one enemy, and it is not each other. If He has called you into it - He is already there. Maybe it is time to put our pointing fingers down, and look within. What is in me, in my nature, that is rising up to fight? What is God revealing about ME through this confrontation?
Jacob wrestled through the night with his circumstance. Daybreak found him with a dislocated hip and a limp, forever altered from his wrestling match. Shouldn't we all be altered after a wrestling match with God? Shouldn't our strength and power give way to His ways and His character? Maybe we come into the wrestling match with our own strength of pride, anger, jealousy, lust...and we need it to be dislocated from our spirits. Perhaps we need to experience that it is in His strength, not our own, that we find the face of God. Does God need to sever a spiritual tendon in my heart, to get my attention, and afford me the luxury of spiritual growth?
Jacob was forever altered, because he hung on to receive the blessing. If you are in it- there is a blessing to be had. Look within and don't give up until you see the face of God. You will be forever altered when you come out the other side and you can name that place in your heart "Peniel", because you found the face of God and lived....
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