The Power of Blessing
On Saturday we heard of Jacob’s deceit in stealing from his father Isaac the blessing due to his brother Esau. Once given, the blessing upon Jacob stuck. Today we have the mysterious story of Jacob wrestling with a powerful supernatural person. It was quite a struggle. Jacob hung on for dear life to the ‘one that wrestled with him’, and for his trouble received a nasty blow to the hip that left him limping for the rest of his days.
And there was one that wrestled with him until daybreak who, seeing that he could not master him, struck him in the socket of his hip, and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with him. He said, ‘Let me go, for day is breaking.’ But Jacob answered, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’
When you read the Old Testament, you get the impression that to receive the blessing of a significant person was no small thing. A blessing carried power to effect what it declared. Nowhere is this more the case than when God Himself is involved. To the authors of the Hebrew scriptures, the blessing of God functions as a guarantee of His favour, provision, and protection. No wonder Jacob hung on to the mysterious supernatural visitor as long as he did.
I love the fact that Jacob wrestled with God. It makes me think that we are often too tame and, well, polite in our prayers. Struggle, fight, argue, complain, yell if you need to. God is very big and you can’t hurt Him. I have no doubt He is most pleased when we are honest. He can take it!
Give Him everything in your heart today, not just the nice bits. Hang on until the blessing hits.