Alone with God
Jacob was blessed in the place where he was alonewith God. He sent everyone else away and was alone(Gen. 32:24). 20th century believers find it difficultto spend much time alone with God. The spirit of thejet-age has got into most of us, and we are in aperpetual state of busyness. The trouble is not withour temperament or our culture. We just don't have ourpriorities right - that's all. Jesus once said thatthe one thing needful for a believer was to sit at Hisfeet and listen to Him (Luke 10:42). But we don'tbelieve that any longer and so suffer the disastrousconsequences of disregarding Jesus' words. If we arealways busy with our various activities and do notknow what it is to get alone with God in fasting andprayer, we shall certainly not know God's power orblessing - His real power, I mean (not the cheapcounterfeits that many are boasting of). Broken by God Jacob was blessed in the place where he was brokencompletely. At Peniel, a Man wrestled with Jacob. Godhad been wrestling with Jacob for twenty years, butJacob had refused to yield. God had tried to show himhow everything he had put his hand to had gonewrong, despite his cleverness and his planning. ButJacob was still stubborn. Finally God struck Jacob'ship-socket so that his thigh was dislocated (Gen 32:25). The thigh is the strongest part of the body, andthat was the part that God struck. Hungry for God Jacob was blessed in the place where he was earnestand hungry for God. "I will not leave you", he criesout, "until you bless me" (Gen 32: 26). How God hadwaited for twenty long years to hear those words fromJacob.He, who had spent his life grabbing the birthright,women, money and property, now lets go of them alland grabs hold of God. This was the point towardswhich God had been working in Jacob's life all along.It must have delighted God's heart when Jacob at lastlost sight of the temporal things of earth and longedand thirsted for God Himself and for His blessing. Weare told in Hosea 12:4, that Jacob wept and pleadedfor a blessing that night at Peniel. What a differentman he was that night compared with his earlier yearswhen he desired only the things of this world. God'sdealings with him at last bore fruit! Before Godblessed Jacob fully, He tested Jacob's earnestness. Hesaid to Jacob, "Let me go," testing whether Jacobwould be satisfied with what he had got or whether hewouldyearn for more. God tests us too. He can never bless aman fully until the man is in dead earnest for God'sbest. We need to thirst like Jacob, saying, "Lord,there is more to the Christian life than I'veexperienced thus far. I'm not satisfied. I want allThy fullness at any cost."When we come to that point, it is but a short step tothe fullness of God's blessing. Notice in the incidentat Peniel, that it was when Jacob was in a state ofweakness (after his thigh had been dislocated), thathesaid, "I will not let you go, God." God could easilyhave left him and gone, but He didn't. For it is whena man is most weak in himself that he has greatestpower with God.. It is when Jacob is defeated,broken and utterly weak, that God tells him, "You havenow prevailed."One would think that God should have said, "You haveat last been defeated." But no. The word is, "You haveprevailed. You shall henceforth have power with Godand with men" (Gen 32: 28). We prevail, when God hasshattered us of our own strength and self-sufficiency. Honest with God Jacob was blessed in the place where he was honestwith God. God asks him, "What is your name?" Twentyyears earlier, when his father had asked him the samequestion, he had lied and said, "I am Esau" (Gen.27:19). But now he is honest. He says, "Lord, I amJacob" - or in other words, "Lord, I am a grabber, adeceiver and a bargainer." There was no guile in Jacobnow. And so God could bless him. God blessed Jacobthere - when he was honest, when he did not want topretend any more, when he confessed, "Lord I'm ahypocrite. There is shame and pretense in my life." Itell you, it takes real brokenness for a man toacknowledge that from the depths of his heart. ManyChristian leaders say words like that with falsehumility - to gain a reputation for being humble. I amnot referring to that type of abomination. What I meanis an honesty that comes out of a truly broken andcontrite heart. That is costly. There is so much guilein all of us. May God have mercy on us for pretendingto be so sanctified when we are not. Let us covetsincerity and honesty and openness with all of ourhearts, and then there will be no limit to God'sblessing upon our lives
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