Meditate On
“My brother, I have plenty,” Esau answered. “Keep what
you have for yourself.” But Jacob insisted, “No, if I have found favor with
you, please accept this gift from me...for God has been very gracious to me. I
have more than enough.”
Genesis 33:9–11, NLT
Grace
Flows When You Stop Struggling
Most people would have given up on Jacob, the scheming
deceiver and manipulator. But not God.
One night, while attempting to appease the brother he had
stolen from, Jacob met the Lord. He grabbed hold of the Lord and for hours,
tried to wrestle a blessing from Him. What did the Lord do? He touched Jacob’s
hip socket and put it out of joint, so that Jacob wound up helpless before the
Lord.
The Lord changed Jacob that night. He showed Jacob how it
was only when Jacob’s grabbing and wrestling finally stopped that His grace was
able to flow. That night, God changed Jacob’s name from “deceiver” to “prince”
(Israel), and added to him blessings that were beyond his own efforts.
You see, we cannot try to wrestle blessings from God. It
is when we give up on our scheming, deceiving and manipulating to get ahead in
life, and completely trust His grace alone that His provision flows unabated.
BLESSINGS
JOSEPH PRINCE