Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Genesis 32:22-32 (NIV)
Jacob Wrestles With God
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.
Choose one or two key verses from the Scripture reading in Genesis today and do at least one of the following for your chosen verse(s).
A – Ask questions of the text (Who, what, why, where, when)
E – Emphasize certain words as you read the text over & over
I – In your own words (paraphrase one or more verses)
O – Other verses in the Bible that say the same or opposite
U – Use it; apply the truth from the text in your life
Holy God, You know my past and everything about me. Thank You for Your loving Grace and Forgiveness. If that isn’t enough, You not only forgave me, but You have transformed me, You have changed my heart and my life to be a new person to be lead by Your Spirit. And no matter how I have sinned in the past, You have chosen to use me as Your child to serve You and to share Your message of love into this world to help other people learn of Your Saving Grace. Thank You for that blessed honor. Amen