Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Genesis 32:24-28 (NIV)
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.”
There is so much in this story that we cannot cover in this brief devotion. For today we will focus on Jacob wrestling with God. So many people see faith as simply accepting certain truths and never questioning them. But this story tells us that faith in the God of the Bible is a wrestling match. God makes promises and we struggle to cling to God, especially after those times that we are deeply wounded. Faith is not easy. But the promise is that if we persist in our wrestling match with God, like Jacob, then we will also be blessed like Jacob and our lives “will be spared” for all eternity. Are you wrestling with God? Is there something that you have been wounded by? Cling to Jesus in hope that he will bless you and never let go.