Night wrestling

"Jacob and the Angel at Peniel" 
by William Brassey Hole

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 32:13-32


TO CHEW ON: "And He said, 'Let Me go, for the day breaks.' But he said, 'I will not let You go unless You bless me.'" Genesis 32:26

The mysterious story of Jacob wrestling with a Man (God) needs a little context.

Jacob and his family had finally broken free of Laban. Jacob's entourage of flocks, servants, wives, and children were making their way back to the home of Jacob's youth. Their trek took them into Esau's territory. Why Jacob dreaded meeting the brother he had cheated, and because of whose death threats he had left home, is obvious.

As he neared the land of Seir, he sent messengers ahead to tell Esau of his approach. The messengers returned with the news that Esau was coming to meet them — with four hundred men! (Fighting men?!)

Jacob in a desperate attempt to placate his brother sent ahead a lavish gift (Genesis 32:13-15). In today's reading we see how he separated his troupe, putting his family on the safe side of a body of water, and then went out alone to face his fears.

I wonder what was going on in Jacob's mind. No doubt he was reliving his treatment of Esau and their last interactions. Was he feeling undeserving of the blessings God had showered on him, knowing that deception had characterized his life? Did he fear that the day of reckoning was here and Esau would get his revenge?

Sometime during the night a mysterious Man appeared. He and Jacob wrestled and Jacob, sinewy creature that he was, managed to hold his own. As dawn paled the horizon, the Man asked to be released but Jacob wouldn't let Him go until He gave him His blessing.

The Man asked Jacob his name, made him say it: "Jacob" = supplanter, deceiver. Then He gave Jacob a new name/identity: Israel = prince with God, "...for you have struggled with God and with man and have prevailed." But the altercation left Jacob with a limp.

Some things this story says to me:

1. Unresolved issues from the past have a way of reappearing.

2. The best way to deal with any troubling issue is to wrestle it out before God in prayer. When we do this, we show that we're at the end of our own devices. We don't know what effect Jacob's night of prayer had. Maybe Esau was coming with bad intentions. Maybe Jacob's night of contending changed more than just him.

3. Whatever flaws he had, Jacob was a fighter. The Man commended him for his determination. This story of Jacob wrestling with God became part of Israel's legacy. Hosea refers to it as an example of how his contemporaries should prevail with God: "...he struggled with the Angel...He wept and sought favor... So you by the help of your God return / Observe mercy and justice / and wait on your God continually" Hosea 12:2-6.


4. The incident left Jacob permanently changed. He received a new identity, along with a new humiliation. I love how my Bible's footnote explains "He limped: This symbolizes that character transformation costs God's people in terms of ego death" -R. Russell Bixler, commentary on Genesis,  New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 49.

Let's let Jacob's example mentor us in how to handle our issues from the past, how we need to  bring them to God, wrestle with them before Him, and accept the changes that He instigates - especially within us - in the process.

PRAYER: Dear God help me to deal with unresolved issues by working them out with You in prayer. Please help me to be teachable and learn the lessons You have for me. Amen.

MORE: Battles of the Secret Place

"The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before God. Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there" - Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest, December 27th reading.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Angels along the way

Jacob flees Laban - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 31:43-32:12

TO CHEW ON: "So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him." Genesis 32:1


Jacob was between a proverbial rock and hard place. If we read the part of the story between yesterday's reading and today's, we see that Jacob was restless and wanted to leave Laban's compound. But when he had tried to leave some years earlier, Laban hadn't let him go. Now he sensed a fall from favour with Laban and his sons (Genesis 31:1,2). And he heard from God: "Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you" (Genesis 31:3).

In typical Jacob fashion he sneaked away—if a cavalcade of camels, sheep and goats can be said to sneak. Of course Laban soon found out and went after him.

God intervened on Jacob's behalf with Laban, warning him to treat his son-in-law neutrally. And so when they met there was an attempt at explaining on Jacob's part, some scolding on Laban's, an accusation of idol-stealing and an unfruitful search, a formal good-bye meal, a pile of memorial stones/border marker set up, hugs and kisses all around, and then Laban said goodbye and left. The strings were cut. Jacob was on his own.

But not really. For at this point we read the short statement: "So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him."

He would recognize them for he had seen them twenty years earlier on a heavenly ladder. How reassuring it must have been for him to know that though his father-in-law was displeased with him and he now had his estranged brother Esau's territory to cross, God hadn't forsaken him.

I believe we will experience the same sense of God's presence, know the comfort of His companionship when we obey. It may mean cutting ties to family (in a variety of ways), leaving the comforts of the familiar, setting out on what seems like a lonely journey. But God will also send His messengers, His angels (perhaps in the guise of other people, in words heard or read, in the lyrics of songs, or any number of ways) to meet us on the road of obedience.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that when we're obedient, walking under Your direction, You accompany us and send encouragement and strengthening along the way. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God brings us out

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 105:23-45

TO CHEW ON: "So he brought his people out with joy

his chosen ones with singing." Psalm 105:43

With vivid description the psalmist details the things God did to bring the Israelites out of Egypt:

"Their land (Egypt, where the Israelites were slaves) swarmed with frogs / even in the chambers of their kings" (Psalm 105:30).
"He gave them hail for rain / and fiery lightning bolts through their land...He shattered the trees of their country" (Psalm 105:32-33).
"He opened the rock and water gushed out; / it flowed through the desert like rain" (Psalm 105:41).

 His story comes to a climax in their joyful freedom song:

"So he brought his people out with joy,/ his chosen ones with singing" (Psalm 105:43).

 There is in many of our histories the story of going from oppression to freedom, dotted similarly with signposts of God at work. I come from Mennonite stock. For this ethnic mix of original German, Swiss and Dutch peoples there is the story of an exodus from Europe to Russia and then to North and South America in a quest for religious freedom.

My husband's Russian great-grandfather converted from the Orthodox faith to simple faith in Christ as taught by the Russian Baptists. As punishment for converting he was imprisoned  in Siberia for eight years (when Russia was still under Czarist rule) before he could bring his family to Canada.

Of course for each of us there is a personal story of being in bondage to our old life and finding new life in Jesus. It might be an interesting exercise to write a Psalm 105 of our own. It could be the story of our people. Or it could be our personal story where we recall the details of God taking us out of a life of slavery to sin.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the way you have worked in the history of my forefathers and for my own personal story of coming to freedom as your child. Amen.


MORE: The Secret Holocaust Diaries

The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister is the fascinating true story of a young Russian girl who, from ages nine to about 20, kept detailed journals of her life. She describes her happy experiences as part of a large wealthy Russian family. She relates how the Bolsheviks expropriated her family's property. She tells of the dreadful winter of the German occupation of Russia when she was a teenager. She does eventually get to America. Hers is a story full of the evidences of God bringing someone out with joy and singing (though she shed many tears along the way).

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Weeping in the dark

"Rabboni!"  - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 20:1-18

TO CHEW ON: " ' They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him. … they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him. … Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him and I will take Him away.' " John 20:2,13,15

Mary's shock, perplexity, and desperation soak these verses. Though John's telling has her coming to the tomb alone, Mark's account includes Mary the Mother of James and Salome in this pre-dawn trek. They come with spices to anoint His body.

But the stone is rolled aside and His body gone!

I can imagine Mary's outrage as she breaks the news to Peter and John. She alone returns to the tomb with them. After they've checked the empty tomb for themselves and return home, she stays behind weeping.

But surely there must be some mistake. On looking into the burial place again she sees two angels (do you think she realized these were angels at the time?). One asks "Woman, why are you weeping?" She answers, "Because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him."

Her interchange with the 'gardener' follows the same lines. She remains grief-absorbed until His "Mary" opens her eyes.

Mary's experience here reminds me of what we often go through in our times of desperation before Jesus shows up in one way or another. He could have saved Mary all those tears if He'd showed Himself to her and the others when they first arrived. But He didn't.

In Mary's life and often in ours, that seems to be His way. He comes in His own sweet time, after leaving us to weep in the dark for a while.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, whether my time of puzzlement is short or long, please help me to never lose faith in You and Your good plans for me. Amen.

MORE: Feast of Mary Magdalene

Today the church liturgy celebrates the Feast of Mary Magdalene. The day's readings opens with this collect (the healing referred to in the prayer refers to her being set free from demon possession - Luke 8:2) :

Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and of mind, and called her to be a witness of his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed from all our infirmities and know you in the power of his unending life; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Hedged in

 TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 139:1-12


TO CHEW ON: "You have hedged me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me." Psalm 139:5

If you are like me, you don't like to feel confined. I don't like to feel physically confined. I remember fighting panic when we vacationed in our tent trailer and I slept in a narrow place between my husband, the canvas wall beside me, and the canvas roof that sloped to just inches of my face.

But David tells us that God confines us—fences us in, a hedge in front and in back, His hand on top.

If life is good we may scarcely be aware of this constriction. But when circumstances are hard, the job is unfulfilling, other pastures look greener, it is easy to try to wriggle out of the place we're in, to spring ourselves from what feels like a prison.

I read the blog of a special education teacher who wrote of this very thing in one of his 2011 advent meditations. His thoughts came out of a conversation with the furnace fixer, Mr. S., who confided in him, "I don't like my job," and then asked, "How about you? Are you thinking of leaving or are you going to stay?" Here's the rest of the story in Magical Mystical Teacher's own words:

“'I’ve thought about leaving,' I say to Mr. S, 'but where would I go?'

What I don’t tell him, because I’m not sure he’d understand, is that the only thing keeping me here—besides the children—is my sense of being placed here by God. Like the psalmist, I have found that God leads people who are willing to be led. If it weren’t for that, I’d be filling out as many applications as it takes to get out of here as quickly as possible.

However, until it is clear that I am supposed to move on, I listen for God’s instruction right where I am, confident that God will teach me the way to go, and lead me when the time is right."

Perhaps that attitude of trust in God, that willingness to stay or to go in God's time, not ours, that is the secret of living without restlessness, anger, resentment, bitterness etc., in our hedged-in place.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that Your enclosing of me is governed by Your wisdom, love, and power. Knowing that, I can live wherever You put me. Remind me of these things when I feel like complaining about my circumstances. Amen.

MORE: "Nothing is Wasted" - Jason Gray

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God in unlikely places

Jacob's Dream - Gustave Doré, 1832-1883

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 28:6-22

TO CHEW ON: "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.'" Genesis 28:16

Jacob's thoughts on waking from his wonderful dream are a testimony to how God-forsaken he felt. His feeling of being alienated from God was no doubt largely his own fault. He had recently participated in his mother's plot to deceive his father into giving him the blessing reserved for first-born Esau. Now Esau was living, eating, and sleeping revenge: "Just wait till Dad dies; I'll kill Jacob!"

Mother Rebekah got word of this and had Isaac send Jacob away on the pretext of getting a wife from her people. It is into the first lonely night of the journey that God came to Jacob in this dream of a ladder, angels, and God, who spoke a generational promise over him, the weasel kid. His first thought was: "God is here. I had no clue!"

I think of other unlikely times and places God showed up.

• In the words of an enemy soldier - Judges 7:13-15.

• In the life of a young boy who was surrounded by evilly religious men - 1 Samuel 3:19.

• In the sea depths - Jonah 1:17.

• In the middle of a Babylonian furnace - Daniel 3:25.

• In a den of lions - Daniel 6:21-22.

• In the presence and words of a young relative - Luke 1:41.

• On an island of exile - Revelation 1:9-10.

These examples recall the words of David in Psalm 139:

"Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea
Even there Your hand shall lead me
And Your right hand shall hold me...." - Psalm 139:6-12.

Wherever we are today, no matter how God-forsaken we feel, let's cling to this truth: God is here, with us, whether we feel Him or not.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the truth of Your everywhere presence. Help me to recognize You in my everyday world. Amen.

MORE: Not one hidden moment

"I can hide my heart and my past and my future plans from men but I cannot hide anything from God. I can talk in a way that deceives my fellow-creatures as to what I really am, but nothing I say or do can deceive God. He sees through all my reserve and pretence; He knows me as I really am, better, indeed, than I know myself. A God whose presence and scrutiny I could evade would be a small and trivial deity. But the true God is great and terrible, just because He is always with me and His eye is always upon me. Living becomes an awesome business when you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient Creator" - J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 1973 edition, p. 91 (emphasis mine).

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I'm excited about launching a newsletter and I'd love to send it to you! 

In it I'll be sharing

• Book recommendations. I discover some wonderful books as a book reviewer.

• Bible study tips and aids. In the 4+ years I've been writing Other Food  Daily Devos, I have come across many helpful resources.

• Author news.

Sample page from Pathways Calendar.

The newsletter will come out quarterly (four times a year). I'm currently collecting names for my September 1st newsletter launch and would be delighted to have your name on the list. 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Withdraw - is it an option?

Christ in the synagogue - Gustave Dore

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 12:15-32


TO CHEW ON: "Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him. But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there." Matthew 12:14-15

Here we see Jesus making a point of avoiding confrontation. When He discovered the Pharisees were plotting to take His life, He slipped away.

While we moderns often thrive on the controversy that confrontation brings, using the notoriety to further our cause (whether that is selling books, songs or the latest movie, pushing greenness, bike lanes, or racial equality), Jesus quietly left the area. Mind you, the Pharisees here were plotting to take His life. But you'd think that as Lord of the universe He could easily have foiled that while utilizing the showdown to draw attention to Himself and what He taught. But that wasn't His way.

Matthew interprets His actions as Jesus embodying the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 42:1-4):

"I will put My Spirit upon Him,

And He will declare justice to the Gentiles

He will not quarrel nor cry out.

Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets..."

Instead of quarreling and crying out, the Isaiah Servant is characterized by the care He shows the hurting:

"A bruised reed He will not break

And smoking flax He will not quench."

That's exactly what we've just seen Jesus do. He demonstrated that His first concern was with the person that was in trouble and needed help.

• Matthew 12:3-4: He defended famished David and his men for eating the sacred showbread (1 Samuel 21:6).

• Matthew 12:5: He defended the priests, who needed to work (prepare sacrifices and offerings - Numbers 28:9) on the Sabbath.

• Matthew 12:7: He quoted the prophets (Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8) to show that preferring mercy over strict legalism was God's long-established principle.

And then to prove it, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, right in front of their eyes ON THE SABBATH! Which, of course, led to the threats quoted at the beginning of this meditation.

What do we do when we are certain we have the right approach, have done the right thing and are challenged, even threatened for it? Might that be the time to take a page out of Jesus' book and "withdraw" from there. Not back down on principle, but refrain from defending ourselves and our position? What do you think?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for Your example of humility and gentleness. Your unpretentious ways are a challenge to me to be less strident in defending myself, more trusting that God will come to my defense in the right time and way. Amen.

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I'm excited about launching a newsletter and I'd love to send it to you! 

In it I'll be sharing

• Book recommendations. I discover some wonderful books as a book reviewer.

• Bible study tips and aids. In the 4+ years I've been writing Other Food  Daily Devos, I have come across many helpful resources.

• Author news.

Sample page from Pathways Calendar.

The newsletter will come out quarterly (four times a year). I'm currently collecting names for my September 1st newsletter launch and would be delighted to have your name on the list. 

Get a colorful 18-month scripture-text calendar when you sign up (designed by me especially for all you wonderful subscribers)!

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Live by FAITH

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 2:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith." Habakkuk 2:4

Yesterday we left Habakkuk voicing his frustration with God's apparent inaction. He tries to goad God to act by pointing out things He shouldn't be tolerating: sin, the rise to power of evil leaders. Today we have God's reply. I wonder if Habakkuk wasn't just a little disappointed in it. For God didn't give a direct answer to a single concern Habakkuk raised. Instead He said, in effect, trust. Live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4).

Of course we know it isn't faith that is the real answer. We can have faith in all kinds of things that aren't faith-worthy. The godless Babylonians of Habakkuk's days had faith too — in their methods of warfare and in their idols.

The faith that Habakkuk was to live by was faith in God, which encompassed believing that He was who He said He was, and could and would ultimately align things on earth with His character.

Two additional verses in this chapter help to flesh out what faith in God was and is all about:

"For the earth will be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

As the waters cover the sea" - Habakkuk 2:14

This verse tells us that someday God's presence, invading every crack and cranny of Earth will crowd out injustice, sickness, disaster of every kind. For light and darkness can't coexist. When the earth is filled with the knowledge of God's glory, the source of all Habakkuk's and our why questions will be overcome by God's light.

And:

"But the Lord is in His holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before Him" - Habakkuk 2:20

This verse comes after Habakkuk's description of someone worshiping man-made gods; idols. It tells us that God will outlast any and every other thing which we worship and in which we trust.

So, instead of dwelling on the why questions we asked yesterday, let's take the answer Habakkuk got and apply it to our own lives. Let's live by faith, but faith in not just anything, but in the God of the Bible who outlasts all other gods and has promised to someday illuminate every why with the light of His presence.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this deep, rich answer to my dilemmas. It puts the ball back in my court: will I trust You even when I can't see? Help me to do that today. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.