LIFE SCRIPTS

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.
Genesis 32:22‭-‬32 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.32.22-32.NIV.

Jacob and his family were on the way. He sent his entire family and entourage ahead of him. In fact he also sent his possessions ahead and he was left all alone by himself. This was no coincidental move. He was in God’s will because God was in the business of meeting with him physically at this point. At times God isolates us from all that is familiar in order for us to encounter Him. But God presented Himself not in a seemingly loving manner but as a wrestler who chose to fight with Jacob. Scripture says that the two wrestled till day break. As isolated as he was, Jacob was vulnerable. But he fought. In fact scripture records in verse 25 that when the man noticed that He could not overpower him, He sought permission to leave. But just before He blessed and left him, He touched the socket of his hip and dislocated it. Jacob seemed a champion. However God exposed his vulnerability. Jacob was a man who was used to having the upper hand. He gained from his brother and father but was humbled by his uncle’s trickery to which he took great offence. For God to use us, we must be totally broken before Him. Jacob encountered God as a whole man but was left blessed and broken. His family must have been surprised when they reunited with him. But more importantly Jacob was on the way to meet his long lost brother Esau. This same man whom he had tricked and escaped from God was allowing him to meet him at his most vulnerable moment…with his entire family and with him limping. But Gods intention wasn’t to humiliate him before his enemies but to make him fully dependent on Him even at his most vulnerable moment. These are the times when situations take an unexpected turn and we are left overwhelmed wondering why? God allows some situations to break us in order for us to realize that our dependence is on Him and Him alone. The Peniel experience was a turning point for Jacob. How I pray that it can be a turning point for us too.