Struggle of a lifetime
Friday, Oct. 2
Genesis 32:1 – 33:20 Read it here Listen to it here

Back when we first met Jacob in Chapter 25, he was still in the womb and yet was already very much the man we read about it today’s passage. When his mother, Rebekah, was pregnant, we read this: “The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord.
“The Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.’”
Jacob’s whole life is a story of struggle and conflict. Perhaps it is not surprising that the people who take his new name, Israel, would also be a people for whom conflict has been a constant reality.
In the reading yesterday we saw a resolution of sorts to the conflict between Jacob and Laban—a resolution based more on distance than on reconciliation.
Today we read about the cautious reconciliation between Jacob and Esau.
Even though God had instructed Jacob to return to his home territory and promised that he would prosper there, Jacob characteristically hedges his bets by dividing up his substantial household and property into two parts to reduce losses in case he is attacked by Esau.
Then, when he learns that Esau is on his way to meet him accompanied by 400 men, he fears the worst. To placate his brother, he sends a series of servants with generous gifts of livestock. He had left home when Esau was threatening to kill him—if Esau is still hostile, he hopes that the gifts will buy some favor.
But as the journey continues, and Jacob knows he is on his way to meet his brother for good or ill, he experiences the defining struggle of his lifetime.
He sends his children and their mothers ahead of him, and remains alone for the night. In the night, he wrestles with a man who seems to enter the story out of nowhere. They wrestle all night; at daybreak the man asks Jacob to let him go. Jacob refuses to do so unless the man blesses him.
The man does, saying, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
That struggle changes more than Jacob’s name. Along with a new identity comes new power. God calls us to submit to his leadership, but real submission comes only after we realize our own strength is not enough.
Sometimes people avoid the struggle in the name of submission, but never really learn of God’s strength. Others, once the struggle begins, claim victory and turn away without working through it; they never learn their own limitations.
It’s only through the struggle that we really understand where our limitations are and become able to trust God’s strength.

Friday meditation

Proverbs 3:21-26
My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.
Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.

Prayer focus
God, grant me the release to rely on you—and only on you—and not be afraid.

-Rev. Mark Fleming