Genesis 32

This chapter kicks off with an event that most would consider momentous: Jacob meets some of God's angels. No doubt some people today would immediately whip out their selfie sticks and take a picture to upload to Instagram or Twitter--making sure to add 30 irrelevant hashtags, thus simultaneously annoying normal human beings and evincing ignorance of how hashtags should actually be used. (I was about to facetiously write "Never," but thought better of it; I'm glad no one will ever know the grievous mistake I almost made.) And yet, this event only receives only a cursory, almost offhand mention from the author. Why? Maybe because Jacob is about to have an even more spiritually pivotal encounter in just a few short verses.

Before that encounter, though, Jacob frets about his reunion with Esau. He's so disquieted that he prays to God, asking Him for protection. OK, in verse 12, he does stick in a reminder of God's promise to him--as if God needed reminding. It could come across as an attempt to guilt trip God, but that's probably reading too much into it. Like many other Christians (I suspect), I cry out to God when something untoward happens--I had a bad cold recently (a few days ago by the time you read this post--or a 70 years ago if you're reading this in 2095) and I just felt like a miserable little wretch. The worst of it happened on my day off, so I was praying--rather querulously, I must admit--that I would get better by the time I had to go back to work the next day. Well, I wasn't quite 100%, but I was able to function. But when I think back, the last time I got a fever, it was also on one of my days off. God provides, even when He knows that I tend to pray to Him only when in dire need. I do know, however, that God doesn't always answer our prayers. Loved ones are taken from us, misfortunes befall us, tragedies leave us bereft of solace. You can probably guess what I'm going to write next: I don't have any answers.

Before meeting Esau, Jacob wrestles with God. Just as Jacob's getting the upper hand, God reminds him of who he's dealing with, incapacitating Jacob's hip. But Jacob has grown enough that he can recognize God and thus ask Him for a blessing. I don't know if I wrestle with God--as I mentioned before, I tend to ignore Him. But I suppose that's also a form of "fighting" with Him, keeping Him from working in and through me. As a result, I become more selfish and prideful. Now, if you've been kind enough to have been reading these prosy little posts, you probably know that I don't boast a whole lot. But I am prideful in thinking that I can live my life as a Christian without fully committing to a relationship with Christ. How hypocritical is that? At any point, God could metaphorically disable my hip. As always, I need to rely on God and remember to live completely for Him.