The Jabbok, Part 1
January 15 (Genesis 32)
I am a fix-it guy. I am good at fixing things because I am good at breaking them! Most things I break I can put back together. But there are a lot of things in this broken world we just can’t fix. Today’s story is about a man who was given the gift of putting the pieces back together of what he had broken. It is such an important story it’ll take two devotionals to cover it.
What began with Rebekah and Jacob’s scheming to gain Isaac’s inheritance led to a fury within Esau that swore to kill his brother in due time. Jacob runs six hundred miles north to Haran, and hangs with his relatives for the next twenty years, marrying two sisters and having thirteen children between his wives and their two handmaidens.
That six hundred miles was strewn with broken shards and it is so true that healing a relationship always involves acknowledging the rubble. There are no shortcuts that elude repentance. When Jacob heard those inevitable words from God, “Go back home to your relatives,” he knew how much broken glass was on that road. But the call ends with these words, “I will be with you.” But you don’t understand, God. Esau is there. “I’ll be with you.” But he wants to kill me! “I’ll be with you.”
Twice along the journey home he had divine encounters, testimony to God’s promise of help. Forty miles south of the Sea of Galilee, where the Jabbok River empties into the Jordan, Jacob has everyone ford the river and keep traveling, while he stayed alone by the river.
And then it happens. Some guy comes upon him at his camp at night and a wrestling match ensues. No one is the clear winner. No one can get the upper hand. Daylight is approaching. We know from the story that God is Jacob’s opponent. As with most of the things we break, the real issue is about what is broken between us and God. Jacob’s issue was not with Laban or Esau. It was with God.
Jacob got three things out of this confrontation with God. He got broken, he got blessed and he got renamed. Broken? Yes, fixing relationships hurts and we may have to deal with certain consequences for a lifetime. But Jacob’s limp would always be a reminder of the promise made to him, “I will be with you.” Blessed? Not that he wasn’t ‘blessed’ before, by Isaac. But a blessing you squirreled out of dad through deceit is a lot different than a willing blessing given to you by a heavenly Father.
And as for a new name? Stay tuned … we’ll talk about that one tomorrow!
“Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.” Jeremiah 3:22
