Some Man Wrestled With Jacob

"He took them and sent them across the stream and likewise everything he had.  And Jacob was left alone.

Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak.  When the man saw that he could not get the better of Jacob, he struck him in the socket of his hip and dislocated it as he wrestled with him.

The man said, 'Let me go, for day is breaking.'  But Jacob said, 'I will not let you go until you have given me your blessing.'  The man then said, 'What is your name?'  'Jacob' was the reply.  He answered, 'You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have been strong-with-GOD as you have been with men and have prevailed.'

Then Jacob asked him, 'What is your name?'  He answered, 'Why do you ask my name?'  And he blessed him there.  So Jacob called the place Penuel, saying 'I have seen GOD FACE TO FACE and survived.'  The sun rose as he passed through Penuel, limping because of his hip.

That is why to this day the Israelites do not eat the sciatic nerve which is in the hip socket because the sciatic nerve in Jacob's hip had been touched." - Genesis 32:23-33 

Jacob Wrestling With GOD

(Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak.  It is a struggle between GOD and Jacob.  At the end GOD confirms HIS blessing on Jacob. 

Occasionally we discover ourselves better in sleep than when we are awake.  This is what happens with Jacob in his night struggle with GOD.  He understands that his labors and trials have been more than a confrontation with society and men; they have been a wrestling with GOD.  GOD promises success but will not grant it until Jacob exhausts all his strength.

Because Jacob understands better the reason for so many trials and delays, he personally addresses the one who blocks his way and who, alone, can change Esau's disposition.  Jacob becomes strong against GOD; he does not ask for a favor, a little help, but instead he demands that he keep his promises: I will not let you go until you have given me your blessing.

Jacob's prayer does not show the resigned attitude characteristic of a believer, according to some.  Praying does not consist only in accepting GOD's will as a thing written in advance in heaven, or in asking for the strength to accept it: praying consists also in putting pressure on GOD, confident in HIS promises and knowing that HE listens to us.  If we could not have some part in the divine decisions concerning us and the governing of the world, the Covenant would be a fraud.  

At the crossroads of life, pressed between the possibilities of becoming stagnant or surpassing himself, the believer knows that GOD will bring him beyond himself if he asks for it with faith.)

 
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