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Genesis 32: 22-33
In the course of the night, Jacob arose, took his two wives,
with the two maidservants and his eleven children,
and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
After he had taken them across the stream
and had brought over all his possessions,
Jacob was left there alone.
Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.
When the man saw that he could not prevail over him,
he struck Jacob’s hip at its socket,
so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled.
The man then said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”
The man asked, “What is your name?”
He answered, “Jacob.”
Then the man said,
“You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel,
because you have contended with divine and human beings
and have prevailed.”
Jacob then asked him, “Do tell me your name, please.”
He answered, “Why should you want to know my name?”
With that, he bade him farewell.
Jacob named the place Peniel,
“Because I have seen God face to face,” he said,
“yet my life has been spared.”
At sunrise, as he left Penuel,
Jacob limped along because of his hip.
That is why, to this day, the children of Israel do not eat
the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket,
inasmuch as Jacob’s hip socket was struck at the sciatic muscle.
The Word of the Lord.
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Most of our prayers to God involve calming things down.
We pray for peace in our world and peace in our hearts.
Healing from pain and suffering.
Forgiveness from red-hot wrath.
All of these things are fair; we should pray for them.
But if we reserve the right to ask God to intervene in our lives, then God reserves the right to respond as he pleases. As we discover throughout the bible, sometimes God works in mysterious ways.
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In our first reading, Jacob is headed home after twenty years of being separated from his brother, Esau. Jacob lied, cheated, and stole from his brother. But now he’s praying for reconciliation.
The night before these two brothers meet, God appears to Jacob in mysterious form, wrestling with him until the dawn.
Jacob refuses to let go of this divine figure until he receives the Lord’s blessing – and, by extension, the promise of reconciliation with Esau.
God grants it, but not before Jacob’s hip is broken.
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While Jacob will walk with a painful limp for the rest of his life, his injury will serve as a constant reminder of his change of heart, as well his need to lean upon God, as opposed to his own strength or understanding.
As it’s written in the Book of Proverbs: “Trust in the LORD with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to God and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:5-6).
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People of faith pray for peace, healing, and reconciliation – and rightly so. But Jacob reminds us that God may answer our prayers in the most unexpected of ways.
Perhaps this becomes one thing to add to our prayer list: accepting God, and his intervention in our lives, however he sees fit.
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Image credits: (1) Christian Learning, Shutterstock (2) And Jacob Wrestled, Medium (3) ‘As I see Fit’ Archives