²² During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. ²³ After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

²⁴ This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. ²⁵ When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷ “What is your name?” the man asked.

He replied, “Jacob.”

²⁸ “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

²⁹ “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.

“Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

³⁰ Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” ³¹ The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. ³² (Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.)

Genesis 32:22-32

Dear God, this is the weirdest story. I confess that I don’t understand your relationship with Jacob. There isn’t a whole lot that is redeeming about him. Yesterday, I prayed through the “stairway to heaven” story and how Jacob decided to essentially make a bargain with you in exchange for his worship. Now, he wrestles with someone who I’m still not convinced is you and demands a blessing from them. It’s all so weird.

So how am I weird? That’s always the question I have to ask myself–especially when I’m critical or judgmental of the biblical character. In fact, the more critical I am the more I need to figure out what it is that in me that is reacting to negatively to them. What is in me that I see in them?

I had dinner with an old friend last night. It was truly a great evening for me. I hope it was good for him too. We talked about an entire array of things. It’s always interesting to sit and try to catch someone up on my life and to get caught up on theirs. It kind of makes me see myself through different eyes, and when I say some things out loud I realize they don’t sound as reasonable (or as horrible) as they sounded in my head.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I want to come to you with no conditions on my end. No strings attached. Jacob was all about selfish conditions. I want to get to the point where I simply come. I come to you. “Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you’re my God. You’re altogether lovely. Altogether worthy. Altogether wonderful to me.

I pray all of this in submission to you,

Amen