Slaying Giants: Jacob
Genesis 32:24-31 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 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. Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
So, there’s this story of in the Old Testament of Jacob wrestling with God and he extracts from God a blessing. It is pretty easy to have a quick read through and try to apply some principles of prevailing prayer here. All we have to do if we want something from God is to wrestle it from Him. Is that really what is happening in this story? Is this a model of prevailing prayer? Is the giant that Jacob is wrestling with the blessing, the future? What do you know about Jacob? Read more…
