He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he struggled with God. Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept, and sought favor from Him.
— Hosea 12:3-4
HOW COULD A MAN ever wrestle with God—or an angel of God—and prevail? It doesn’t seem possible. Yet Hosea tells us it happened, and the explanation is found at the end of the sentence: “He (Jacob) wept, and sought favor from Him.” In other words, Jacob said: “Please don’t go without blessing me!”
Jacob’s wrestling match occurred the night before he was to meet up with his brother, Esau, who was on the march with 400 men. No amount of conniving or scheming could save him this time. Jacob knew there was no escape. And so he wrestled with the Angel, clung to Him, and begged for a blessing.
IT’S TIME TO SURRENDER AND WEEP BEFORE THE LORD.
Sometimes I see men wrestling with God and I wonder what is it going to take to bring them to their knees? In Jacob’s case, it took a crippling. When he couldn’t run anymore, couldn’t scheme anymore, couldn’t trick his way out of his circumstances anymore, he finally surrendered himself to God.
Maybe you are in the place of Jacob where you just don’t know what you are going to do. When you finally come to the end of your own strength and you surrender yourself to the Lord, that is the point at which you begin to discover the power of God at work in your life.
Father, we can see that victory comes when we surrender to You. Cripple us, Lord, if that is what it takes to bring us to a place of complete surrender.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.