Slices
Prepare
Almighty God, fill my heart with love for you, my mind with thoughts of you and align my will to yours.
Bible passage
Jacob wrestles with God
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’
But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’
27 The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’
‘Jacob,’ he answered.
28 Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’
29 Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’
But he replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
Explore
If you are anything like me, you will find this a strange or even disturbing incident. It’s not easy to make sense of the details and we wonder what is going on and why it takes place. God initiates the contact/contest for he has new things to teach Jacob. These unexpected meetings with God form a pattern in the life of Jacob. Sometimes God meets us at the times we least expect and in surprising ways. God is not predictable and does not operate in ways that we can understand. But all he does, however strange it may seem, is done for our ultimate benefit.
Names are significant in the ancient world and carry significance and power. Abram becomes Abraham (which is seen as signifying ‘father of many nations’, Genesis 17:1–8), and now Jacob is renamed Israel. The name change and the blessing are marks of God’s call. The change of name sets the tone for the future of God’s people. Something significant has happened and life for Jacob will never be quite the same again.
When God calls us to some particular task, he is unlikely to change our names, but he will give us his blessing and the resources that we need. Like Jacob, we may find that life takes on a new dimension.
Respond
Prepare to set out on the next stage of your journey with God with a sense of joy and expectation.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Proverbs 11,12; Colossians 3
Pray for Scripture Union
Please join the fundraising team in praying that we may be good stewards of the finances we have been blessed with, and that we may have the confidence and courage to pray boldly expecting God to provide ‘even more than we ask or imagine’.
