Don't Let Go!

Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.  Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.  And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”

But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

So He said to him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Jacob.”

And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:24-28 NKJV)

It is easy to think this passage is about Jacob demanding something that was being withheld from him.  However this is not the case.  We know that God desires to bless us abundantly.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessingThat there will not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10)

But sometimes we are our own roadblock.  Well, maybe you're not but I am.  What the Genesis passage is really about is commitment and perseverance.  Jacob is willing to put in the time and effort to get what God has for Him.

Some of us pray and then complain that God didn't answer.  Perhaps God answered and we missed it.  Do we listen for an answer or do we say what we have to say and then go on our way?  We want a word from the Lord but we don't read His Word.  God is always speaking.  Are we listening?  As the saying goes, if you're feeling far from God, guess who moved?

Like Jacob, we must not give up.  Let us commit to hold on and get our blessing.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV)