Post by Les Brewer on Dec 19, 2023 19:16:22 GMT
Learning from Scars By: Mike Wittmer
Click here for the Audio Message
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and [Jacob] was limping because of his hip.
Genesis 32:31
Today's Scripture & Insight :
Genesis 32:22–32
Faye touched the scars on her abdomen. She had endured another surgery to remove oesophageal-stomach cancer. This time doctors had taken part of her stomach and left a jagged scar that revealed the extent of their work. She told her husband, “Scars represent either the pain of cancer or the start of healing. I choose my scars to be symbols of healing.”
Jacob faced a similar choice after his all-night wrestling match with God. The divine assailant wrenched Jacob’s hip out of its socket, so that Jacob was left exhausted and with a noticeable limp. Months later, when Jacob massaged his tender hip, I wonder what he reflected on?
Was he filled with regret for his years of deceit that forced this fateful match? The divine messenger had wrestled the truth out of him, refusing to bless him until Jacob owned up to who he was. He confessed he was Jacob, the “heel grabber” (see Genesis 25:26). He’d played tricks on his brother Esau and father-in-law Laban, deceiving them to gain advantage. The divine wrestler said Jacob’s new name would be “Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome” (32:28).
Jacob’s limp represented the death of his old life of deceit and the beginning of his new life with God. The end of Jacob and the start of Israel. His limp led him to lean on God, who now moved powerfully in and through him.
By: Mike Wittmer
Reflect & Pray
What spiritual scars do you have? How might they symbolise the end of something bad and the start of something new?
Father, my limp is a sign of Your love.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The context of Jacob’s mysterious wrestling match (Genesis 32:22-32) is his coming encounter with his brother Esau (vv. 3-6). Because of Jacob’s past treachery (25:29-34; 26:34-27:41), he feared Esau would attack him and his family (32:6-12). Soon after, “a man wrestled with him till daybreak” (v. 24 ). In other passages of Scripture, when God reveals Himself in human form, people are initially unable to recognize the visitor as more than human (see Genesis 18:1-2; Judges 6:11-22; 13:10, 21-22). But as daybreak dawns, Jacob seems to grow aware that the stranger is more than human, so he clings in hope of blessing (Genesis 32:26-30).
Monica La Rose
Genesis 32:22-32
King James Version
22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
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.
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.
Click here for the Audio Message
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and [Jacob] was limping because of his hip.
Genesis 32:31
Today's Scripture & Insight :
Genesis 32:22–32
Faye touched the scars on her abdomen. She had endured another surgery to remove oesophageal-stomach cancer. This time doctors had taken part of her stomach and left a jagged scar that revealed the extent of their work. She told her husband, “Scars represent either the pain of cancer or the start of healing. I choose my scars to be symbols of healing.”
Jacob faced a similar choice after his all-night wrestling match with God. The divine assailant wrenched Jacob’s hip out of its socket, so that Jacob was left exhausted and with a noticeable limp. Months later, when Jacob massaged his tender hip, I wonder what he reflected on?
Was he filled with regret for his years of deceit that forced this fateful match? The divine messenger had wrestled the truth out of him, refusing to bless him until Jacob owned up to who he was. He confessed he was Jacob, the “heel grabber” (see Genesis 25:26). He’d played tricks on his brother Esau and father-in-law Laban, deceiving them to gain advantage. The divine wrestler said Jacob’s new name would be “Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome” (32:28).
Jacob’s limp represented the death of his old life of deceit and the beginning of his new life with God. The end of Jacob and the start of Israel. His limp led him to lean on God, who now moved powerfully in and through him.
By: Mike Wittmer
Reflect & Pray
What spiritual scars do you have? How might they symbolise the end of something bad and the start of something new?
Father, my limp is a sign of Your love.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The context of Jacob’s mysterious wrestling match (Genesis 32:22-32) is his coming encounter with his brother Esau (vv. 3-6). Because of Jacob’s past treachery (25:29-34; 26:34-27:41), he feared Esau would attack him and his family (32:6-12). Soon after, “a man wrestled with him till daybreak” (v. 24 ). In other passages of Scripture, when God reveals Himself in human form, people are initially unable to recognize the visitor as more than human (see Genesis 18:1-2; Judges 6:11-22; 13:10, 21-22). But as daybreak dawns, Jacob seems to grow aware that the stranger is more than human, so he clings in hope of blessing (Genesis 32:26-30).
Monica La Rose
Genesis 32:22-32
King James Version
22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
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.
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.
