RPG Adults
WRESTLING WITH AN ANGEL
LORD’S DAY, FEBRUARY 9
Genesis 32:24-32; 33:1-3
Psalm 10:10-18
Are you walking with Him?
WRESTLING WITH AN ANGEL
Jacob still had to learn the lesson of faith, before he gained the Promised Land. To trust in his own strength, keeping to his old ways would not do. God had to come into his life and take over. That night, while the camp awaited Esau’s approach with uncertainty and fear, Jacob found himself alone with God’s angel. There followed a great struggle and wrestling through the night. Jacob’s strength matched the angel’s, until daybreak. He was very strong and seemed to hold his own. Then, a mere touch from the angel and Jacob’s thigh was dislocated. In an instant, his strength was turned to weakness.
“…Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zech 4:6)! Jacob had learnt his lesson. The angel gave him a new name: no more Jacob “the supplanter,” but Israel, “prince of God.” Then the angel blessed him. Strength and blessing come from God! Striving in our own strength, striving in the flesh, will mean defeat in the end. Jacob learnt this lesson, wrestling with God’s angel. It was the lesson of faith.
Jacob had expected the worst. All sorts of wild ideas must have run riot through his head. Esau and his four hundred! What hope of escape was there? If only he could see, might he not have been amazed by the angels of God (Gen 32:1) who met him earlier and were still encamped round about them? King David said in Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”
For all his fears and sleepless nights, Jacob’s meeting with Esau turned out to be an emotional reunion. With bowings and embracings, kisses and tears, the bitterness and vengeance instantly melted away from Esau’s heart. Jacob, his long-lost brother was back, a rich man with a flourishing family, humbling himself as “servant” before his lord Esau. With not one bow, but seven, Jacob did Esau honour and, in an instant, they were reconciled.
THOUGHT: God’s strength is the greatest.
PRAYER: May my reliance always be on God’s strength.