Gen 32
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the
day. 25 And when he saw that he prevailed
not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was
out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh.
And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he
said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more
Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast
prevailed.
The Amplified lifts something important out here. When the angel
asked him what his name was, with a shock of realisation he realised for the first time
what his name really meant, a deceiver and schemer.
Have you ever realised who you really are?
God in His mercy revealed to Jacob what his name really meant and
when he acknowledged it, God changed his name to Israel, a prince with God. It dawned on
Jacob that he was a sinner and a criminal and God worked in his heart and changed him. It
wasn't long after this that Jacob called his family together to remove all idols in their
midst and be a sanctified people.
Do you hear that parent? Are you strict on your child and not on
yourself? Do you tell your child not to do certain things but you indulge in those things?
We see in Jacob's life that from a young age he had a tender heart
towards God. However his brother Esau was just the opposite and completely indifferent to
God and His ways. He esteemed God's blessings lightly, and sold it for one meal of food.
Maybe you too deal lightly with God's ways and His grace, and you
sin thinking you'll just confess it again.
Esau also didn't consult his parents in the choice of his wives,
which was the right thing to do in those days.
Young person, you can live and do as you want, but remember that
your parents suffer more than you ever can imagine by your wayward ways.
Young people in the world live wild lives, just like Esau.
We need God to work in our midst in our time.
Because of the bad wives of Esau, Rebekkah said to Isaac that
Jacob must not take himself a wife from the people of the land, but go back to her family
and take himself a wife from there. As Jacob arrived in that country, he met Rachel in a
similar way the servant of Abraham met Rebekkah, his mother.
We see something amazing in the two wives of Jacob, Rachel and
Leah. Leah was jealous of her sister because Jacob loved her more. And she planted that
seed of jealousy in her children, so that they had that same terrible jealousy towards
Joseph, Rachel's son. They wanted to kill him, but some objected, and eventually sold him
into slavery.
Just imagine what Joseph must have gone through emotionally! God
saw it all and allowed it. He did not spare him from this terrible tribulation.
Maybe your children are rebuked by someone, but you choose to
defend your children in their wrong, and so you strengthen their evil. That will one day
come back to you with interest.
Job was not such a parent, but he realised that his children could
sin and so he continually prayed for them and sanctified them, lest they sinned in their
hearts.
The more you want to know God, the deeper troubles you will go
through.
God allows us to go through difficult times to teach us something.
Many times we won't understand, but without those difficulties in our lives, how will we
learn?
Even when Joseph was sold into slavery, God still had the
situation in complete control. The Bible says God was with him in everything.
We see that after God took Joseph through everything and used him
to save the world from famine, he did not harbor bitterness against his brothers, but saw
it from God's perspective, that God used it to save lives.
It's also amazing that when he was in power and could go back to
Canaan, he never went back, but waited God's time and remained faithful to where God put
him, to save lives.
Joseph's brothers all kept the secret and carried the burden for
many years. When their food came to an end, their father had to tell them what to do. They
were too weighed down by their burden of guilt.
If you have a guilty conscience, then the innocent words of others
make you feel guilty.
We see this guilty conscience in Joseph's brothers. When they came
to Egypt to buy food and Joseph dealt harshly with them to see if they had changed, they
said that it was going difficult with them because of what they had done to their brother.
After so many years their conscience was still troubling them!
So Joseph put Simeon in prison and told them to bring their
youngest brother along. He wanted to see if their attitude towards Benjamin had changed or
whether they had finished him off as well. But when Benjamin came, he saw their love and
care and protection of Benjamin, and then he knew that they had changed and he revealed
himself to them.
Maybe you don't even hear the message because of your burden of
sin weighing you down, while all you have to do is confess your sin and bring that
shameful thing to the light, and you will be free.
What do you do with this Gospel God has given you? Has your life
been revived as Jacob's life when he saw all Joseph had sent along?
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