By Melanie Rigney
The man then said,
“Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go until
you bless me.” (Genesis 32:27)
In
justice, I shall behold your face, O Lord. (Psalm 17:15a)
Then
he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so
ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37)
Piety
Lord, may I, like Jacob, recognize you and have
confidence in you always.
Study
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| Painting by Gustave Dore |
The wrestling
between Jacob and the man (generally interpreted as angel) had gone on for
hours, had continued even after the dislocation of Jacob’s hip. Still, Jacob
refused to stop struggling without a blessing. The reading from Genesis 32 goes
on to say Jacob, to be known henceforth as Israel, named the place Peniel,
“Because I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”
Difficult and
yet heady stuff at the same time. Imagine Jacob’s pain. Imagine his exhaustion.
Still he knew, he knew, there was
some God to be had in the experience. And he was right.
May we
remember that as we deal with the minor and major annoyances life throws at us:
A less than favorable medical diagnosis. The loss of a loved one. The
aggravation of driving or public transportation or poor customer service. Any sort of unwelcome change we did or didn’t
introduce into our day-to-day. God doesn’t cause the bad things in our lives.
But if we have faith in our struggle, He will
bless us. Just don’t let go.
Action
Ask God to
bless you in your most challenging struggle today—and believe the blessing will
come, sometimes in ways you least expect.
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