We last learned of Jacob was that he was all
alone. Verse 22 tells us that he spent a night getting his wives, two maids and
eleven children to cross the ford of the Jabbok River and all that he had with
them. Then all alone now, Jacob must have passed the longest night of his life.
It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine what he was doing. His mind must be going
through all the events and wondering what was awaiting him ahead. He wrestled
with the fact that Esau was after him and the cold mountain air did not help. Then
in verse 23 we read that a man wrestled with him. Someone laid hold of him and
appeared to want his life. In the pitch dark cover of the night he could see
nothing. The man that he struggled with was quiet and without a name. They were
rigorously struggling between them. We can tell that Jacob did not know that he
was struggling with an angel of God. But we know because we have the advantage
of reading verses 29-31. These verses tell us that he was wrestling with an
angel. Besides, Hosea 12:4 making reference to this incidence said that he
strove with an angel. Implicitly, he was wrestling with God.
Jacob struggled all of his life. His very first
struggle was with his brother while they were yet in their mother’s womb. He
came forth grasping his brother’s heel. When he was older, he struggled with
his brother and managed to wrestle from his brother the birth-right. Then when he
was older he struggled again with his father and obtained his brother’s
blessing. The last we knew before this incidence was his struggle with Laban
his uncle, his father-in-law for his wives, children and wealth. And now he was
struggling with God. So we see that he not only wrestled with man but also with
God.
Of all his wrestling in life, this final one would
be the ultimate. It would mark his life forever. As Jacob agonizingly wrestled with
the angel of the Almighty, he was oblivious that God was pursing him
relentlessly with His grace. He was in the grip of God’s unfailing love. After
many hours and the angel could not make any headway, verse 25 tells us that “When
he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his
thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with
him.” Yet with a dislocated joint Jacob would not let go. That one touch that
dislocated his joint clearly indicates that he was not wrestling with any
ordinary being. His opponent was a supernatural being. But we know from the
concluding account of his struggle that it was truly the fascinating hand of
God’s grace. But Jacob only discovered this later.
As the two wrestled on, they began
to converse. Seeing that the day was breaking, the unnamed assailant asked to
be released. Realizing that he was no ordinary being, Jacob responded saying, “I
will not let you go unless you bless me.” By now Jacob already had tasted of the
supernatural ability of his assailant, for with his one touch from him, his hip
was immediately dislocated. By now the patriarch would almost
certain that he was dealing with the divine and insisted on a blessing. He just
simply won’t let go till he got what he asked for. The unyielding insistence of
Jacob was truly difficult to resist. Isn’t this the attitude we should
cultivate when we come to connect with God? We should press in and not readily
give up. Didn’t Jesus say that we should ask and keep on asking, seek and keep
on seeking and knock and keep on knocking? For to everyone who asks will receive,
and everyone who seeks will find and to him who knocks, the door will be
opened. Yes, we must persist in prayer for we have a God who is not reluctant
to answer our prayer.
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