I’m On My Way! (Part 3)

I’m On My Way! (Part 3)
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. (Genesis 32:24-26)
Jacob is left alone, and the only thing he could do at this point is pray. I believe that it was God that led Jacob to do the things that he did…the gifts for Esau…separating the servants into companies…getting his family to safety, so that he could get Jacob to this place that he could deal with him. While all the hustle and bustle of the huge entourage was with him, Jacob could busy himself with a thousand different tasks. Once he was only, God could then get his attention. It was at this place that Jacob could remember all the Lord had done for him, and wonder how God was going to do what he destined him for. This was a significant turning point in Jacob’s life and he knew it.
The scripture says in verses 24-25: "and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him." In reading this portion of scripture, it occurred to me that Jacob did not wrestle with the man, but that the man wrestled with Jacob!
Jacob was self-reliant, full of pride, and a schemer who originally did not want anything from God. God did however, want something from him. He wanted to take all of this stuff out of Jacob, even if it was by force! The man that Jacob wrestled with was God in human form. There are times (I believe) that God will wrestle with us. The times I can remember are when I have gone to him in prayer letting him know that I don’t want to stay in the same condition that I have been in for awhile. I of course would only pray about it, but my prayer would actually take it to a place where it would be my will against His will. That of course brought a wrestling match. I am glad, God won!!
Jacob managed to keep up his struggle throughout the entire night, leaving me with the impression that he had a great determination to hang in there. His determination to hang in there was no greater than what I can only term as "my frequent determination to have my own way and eventually win God over to what I want." If I am truly on my way to becoming all God has destined me to be, then I have to ask myself a question. If the Man I wrestle with is God, what makes me think that He couldn’t have won easily at any time using supernatural powers? I would just like to remind us…that although we really feel like we can "contend with God" or be in rebellion against God, the truth is that the match is even in appearance only. God can turn the tide whenever he wanted to! Allowing God to have His way in my life, yielding everything to him, tells me that without a doubt…I am on my way!