God's Dealing with Jacob — Genesis 28

0:00 What a what a blessed week the Lord gave us with the children, and now we have also three new babies here in the... More children right in in in the in the chapel, and then now new new couples coming up. I feel like the Lord's really blessing. Amen? Would you agree?

0:19 Right? Boy, I didn't I didn't... You didn't sound convincing convinced at all. Okay. Well, if you don't consider that a blessing, I don't know what what is a blessing, but I do.

0:28 Okay? So I say amen in my own heart. Amen. Right? There you go.

0:35 There you go. Somebody caught a hold of the spirit there. Okay. Alright. Let's go to Genesis 28 and verse 10.

0:44 I hope you've been enjoying the the study or being blessed by the study of Genesis. We're gonna continue. Now we are... We're at the point of considering Jacob. Now what I love about the the Bible is that when it portrays these different biblical characters, like David and Jephthah and Gideon, they were normal, ordinary men just like you and I.

1:12 The bible doesn't cover up their flaws, their lack of faith, their worldliness, and in many ways, I can identify with them. For example, Peter, he speaks before he thinks, and I often... I like to talk, and so I do that too much, unfortunately. I kind of like the fact that Moses had an anger problem. You know that, right, when you study the the life of Moses?

1:36 And and Mary had a jealousy problem, and Aaron had a idol problem. And so you look at all these characters, and you're like, wow, Lord, I I guess they were pretty human because we tend to glorify them as if they were some kind of holy saints, but they were just like you and I, struggling like we do. So today we're going to look at Jacob and some of his struggles and how the Lord dealt with him. So if you want a title for this particular study, it's God's dealing with Jacob. God's dealing with Jacob.

2:07 So let's look at the text, Genesis 28, verse 10 through 22, then we're to hop over to Hosea. So let's consider it. Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went towards Haran, and he came to a certain place and spent the night there because... Thank you. Now I can see.

2:32 Spent the night there because the sun had set, and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and laid down in that place. And he had a dream, and behold, the ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to the heaven, and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants shall also be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread out to the West and to the East and to the North and to the South, and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.

3:32 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place? There is... This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.

4:37 Let's go to Hosea chapter 12. You If want to know where it is, it's after the book of Daniel. Most people can find a book of Daniel. The very next one is Hosea. So Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea.

4:50 Hopefully I did that right. No, no, it's Ezekiel. See, I got it wrong. There you go. Alright.

4:56 Let's go to Daniel... Daniel. Hosea chapter 12. Let's consider verse three and four. This is word of God.

5:10 It says this, in the womb, that is Jacob, took... He took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity, he contended with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and he sought his favor and he found him at Bethel and there he spoke with us. Okay.

5:37 As you know, Jacob had tricked his brother and he stole the blessing and and after he did that, the brother was upset. Esau and he said, I'm gonna kill you And so the mom finds out about it and he tells Jacob, Jacob, go go to the North, to the land where your where your uncle is, and go and find a wife there. I I don't want you to marry a Canaanite. And so he starts on this journey. And and up to this point, what we know about Jacob is that he's got the kind of nature that is pretty much...

6:08 Some of us have that kind is that when you want or you desire something, you're gonna find a way to get it. And so even from from birth, we see Jacob grabbing Esau by the heel because he wanted to be number one. And so he schemes and he tricks and this type of person will go to college and he says, I got to get hooked up with the right people and I wanna do certain things, so I'm gonna come up with a way to achieve my goals. And oh, and by the way, God, it would be nice if you help me out along the way. And and so so he tricks Esau twice.

6:45 He tricks his dad, Isaac, and then Laban and he are both tricksters, and so they go at each other for twenty years, right, as you know, if you look at the text. Alright. So when we start reading the text, God basically meets up with him. He was probably lonely. He was all by himself.

7:03 All he had was a staff in his hand, probably to fight off a wild animal or something. But he's he's all by himself and he's going on his journey, several days journey, and suddenly god appears to him and he repeats the Abrahamic covenant but I want you to notice how significant what he says to him. All of you know, you remember since since you were little, you were young, the pictures of the ladder and the angels going back and forth, right? Who didn't see... Know about that ever since they were little, right?

7:31 I remember when I was young, they talked to us about it and I thought, oh, that's exciting, know, there was a ladder and angels coming up and down and and all of this but what what I never heard, I never considered was the part underneath that and I think that is is where the the the meat of what god wanted to relate to Jacob was not so much the latter but the fact that he was communicating with them and listen to what he said. Alright, let's start with verse 13 then. And behold, the lord stood above and said, I am the lord, the god of your father, Abraham and Isaac, the land upon which you lie. I will give it to you and to your descendants. He had promised to Abraham that he was going to do it.

8:15 He did the same thing to Isaac and now he repeats it to Jacob. Hey, Jacob. You're going go on a journey. You're to leave this land but but let me say something to you. I'm going to give it to you.

8:25 It's yours because I promised it to your grandfather and to your father. By the way, this this this covenant, the Abrahamic covenant is based on god's grace and mercy. It had nothing to do with Abraham or how great he was or with Isaac or with Jacob. It was a one-sided deal. Abraham was asleep when God made all these promises to him and he woke up and he was like, wow, what just happened?

8:50 And God had brought forth the Abrahamic covenant. So it came from God, it had nothing do with Abraham or with Isaac. And you know Jacob here, he's a he's a trickster, a schemer, he figures out ways to get things done. And and like I said, by the way, if if I need your help, God, you know, you... I hope you're there for me, but I'm gonna get it done my way and I'm gonna figure it out.

9:39 And because we have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and so we can say, okay, I can apply that to my life, the land, I'm going to give it to you. Well, that was directly to Jacob and his descendants, but we're going to partake of it, right, in the millennium. I don't know to what extent, but this is going to be fulfilled and we're going to partake of it. Alright? And then he says another thing, if you notice the text then, your descendants shall be like the dust and they're going to be all over the place, all over the world, and and all of the families of the earth will be blessed through your descendants.

10:13 And you know that because of Jesus Christ, people all over the world have come to know the salvation of their souls, forgiveness of sins. Amen? Right? And so I have relatives in other parts of the world. I have friends everywhere that have come to know Jesus Christ as their savior and he was the descendant of Jacob.

10:34 And so all the descendants of the world will be blessed because of you and that was fulfilled as you know. As a matter of fact, for those of you who wanna make sure that you know that the Bible is true and real and everything it says, do you know anybody from from Esau's descendants? Have you ever said, hey, I ran into an Edomite the other day? Because god didn't promise that to him. You you would say, hey, I just met a Canaanite or a Pesarite or or a pesticide or all those psych guys.

11:03 They're they're all gone. You don't hear anybody knowing any of them because god didn't make that promise to him and they're out of the picture and yet this insignificant little nation is still alive and you can't get rid of him. Because when God makes a promise, he fulfills it. Alright? And and in the future, God is gonna reign through them and the whole world will be blessed because of them.

11:31 Alright. So let's continue our text then. Notice what he says in verse 15. And this is what I want you to to take home with you. If anything, we're gonna focus a lot on this.

11:41 And behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go and bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Now the next thing we see is this then. I am with you. What does that talk to you about? God's presence.

12:00 Now can we as New Testament believers, can we say that that is true for us? Amen. Right? I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.

12:10 We we can quote that text and so we can say the same as Jacob. God, this is true of me as well. It's a New Testament principle as well as an Old Testament principle. What you were saying to Jacob is also true to me, that your presence will never leave me. And then the second thing he says is, I will keep you.

12:27 What does that talk about? Protection. Protection. I'm going to protect you, Jacob, through all of your journeys, through everything that happened in your life, I'm going to protect you. Well, that doesn't necessarily mean we're gonna be protected from physical sickness or harm.

12:43 As you know, I have personal friends who are Christians. One of them in Houston, someone came and knocked on his door. He opened the door and they shot him and robbed his home and he died and he was a godly man. But in this case, we do know that we still have divine protection in the sense that if unless god wills it, nothing's going to happen to us good or bad. Amen?

13:04 Isn't that true? And then he says, I'm going to bring you back. What does that speak? Because it speaks of guidance and don't we have as believers the the new the holy spirit who is our guide that guides us through the scriptures and directs us? And we're not blindly living our faith, but but through the scriptures and through divine wisdom, the lord guides us in our daily journeys of life.

13:36 That's right. God is faithful and and we can read in Hebrews thirteen five and six. I will never leave you nor forsake you. This week, Monday and Wednesday, while I was in Houston, after I was doing some speaking and I was able to run and see my family and I spent some time with my sister who again is in the hospital. She's in and out constantly And we we were just talking about God and why God allows suffering and everything she's going through, and she was asking me questions, of course, that I can't answer.

14:07 But one thing she said was this, you know what's interesting is that my husband has never left me. Do you know how many husbands leave their wives because their wives are sick? And and the other way around too, how many wives leave their husbands? She says, through all my sicknesses, through through all my cancer, through all my suffering, all those operations, through everything, he's never left me. And she asked him, why didn't you leave me like so many others?

14:35 She goes, because when I stood before the altar, said I was gonna be faithful to you in sickness and in health and I meant it. So I was so blessed by hearing that and I thank God for my brother-in-law, I really do. Now turn your... Hold your hand right there and let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 31. Notice also, I want to encourage you through this text, Deuteronomy 31 and verse six through eight.

15:13 Notice the text then. This is god encouraging through through Moses, encouraging Joseph who was going to... Who had a terrible task before him and he says this, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or tremble at them. For the lord your god is the one who goes with you.

15:33 Listen, he will not fail you or forsake you. Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him, in the sight of all Israel, be strong and courageous for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their father to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. And the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you, and he will be with you, and here it comes again, he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. You know, some of the most beautiful words we can ever hear from god is this, that I'm gonna...

16:12 I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Isn't that what we wanna hear from our spouse? Isn't that what you wanna hear from people that you love? That they're gonna be with you? That they won't forsake you?

16:27 And so Jacob is listening to this, and he wakes up from his dream. And he said, oh my word. What just happened? It... Listen.

16:37 Interesting. He says, God was here, and I didn't even realize it. And isn't that so true of us? So many times we go through life's journey, through life's experiences, and we don't even realize that God's right there. And Jacob's going on his journey, kinda just doing his thing, and and and he doesn't even realize that God's hand was with him.

17:00 And he wakes up and says, my word, this place is awesome. God is here. But I want you to notice something and I've been debating this for weeks as I've been studying is what what what Jacob says to god. Now, what Jacob says to god, I think it's a reflection of my life and many years, maybe years in many ways as well And that is the fact that, yeah, yes, I I know that that I have god as a guide, and I know his presence is with me, and I know that he says he's never gonna forsake me. And all of these promises, I can claim him as a believer, but but I want you to notice what what he does.

17:55 And Jacob made a vow, saying, I want you to notice this vow. Now you can look at a lot of commentaries, and they're divided right down the middle. Half of them think that it was a a believing vow, the other one is like a conditional vow. I I I think it was conditional, and I'm gonna tell you why in a minute. Let's read it.

18:18 Here's what he said, verse 20. If... Notice the if? That that to me that's like, well, you know, if God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take and will give me food to eat and garments to wear and I return to my father's house in safety, then, the lord will be my god. I I I I just can't see a positive thing there.

18:50 I see a doubt. I see questioning. I'm like, okay, God, I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying, but you know, like like Jacob, like us, we we hear what god says but but to live it out and to practice it and to believe it and make it part of your daily experience. That's another thing.

19:10 Half of the Christians of the world know everything god said but they're not experiencing it in a practical way. They're not living it out. And and yes, yeah, I hear the preachers every week and I hear what they say but but are you taking it in? Are you living it? Are you believing it?

19:24 Is it part of your daily walk? And so he puts all these conditions on god. Okay, god. I hear what you said but but you know, once you do, I I I I need to have food and clothing and you better bring me back and then if you do all that, well, then you're going be my god. Oh, and by the way, just to show you that I'm I'm I'm real, let's see what he says in verse 20.

19:46 And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be will be God's house, and of all that thou does give me, I will surely give a tenth to thee. This is usually a a an acknowledgement of the greatness of god and so god, I acknowledge that that you're real and so I'm to give a tenth to you but only if, you know, you give me clothing and food and everything I need and you bring me back with any kind of condition or in my opinion. I could be wrong. Some commentators look at it differently. You read it, study on your own and come up with your own conclusion.

20:19 Alright. Now, even though he had all these promises and all this reality from god, he still needed to to learn to trust god. So as well as us, we're young. When we come to the lord, many of us or someone who's come to the lord later and and we hear all of these truths about God, but but but we still have to learn to trust him. And we have to go through all of our experiences in life.

20:44 And so what happens to Jacob? He goes and he runs into his his wives and his father-in-law and he goes through all kinds of troubles for twenty years. And so struggles, you know, the father-in-law tries to rip him off and he does a trick to get him back and and you see all of these these guys going at each other and and wrangling and going through all all sorts of troubles with the one wife and then with another wife and and all of these children doing their things. So then, it's time to come back. Alright.

21:14 So we're jumping ahead twenty years now. Twenty years now. And I want you to look at thirty one, chapter 31 and verse three. Thirty one and three. Then the Lord said to Jacob, return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.

21:36 What did God say? I'm gonna be with you. What did he tell him twenty years earlier? I'm gonna be with you. I'm not gonna forsake you.

21:44 I'm promising you this. Look at verse 13. I am the God of Bethel, that is where he met him, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to me. Now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth. Alright.

22:01 So Jacob goes through twenty years. He has... He gets married. He has children and all of his experiences, and, he's coming back now. And I want you to notice, real quick, chapter 32 and verse one.

22:41 I hope I pronounced it right. Now I don't know about you. I don't know about you, but I've never had an experience where I'm on a journey and all of a sudden I run into a bunch of angels and we kind of hang out. Know? That's what happened.

22:56 The angels met him and then he he gave... He he always names something for his experiences. Right? Bethel and Mannheim, and you're gonna see some other names in a minute. But I've never I've never had that experience.

23:10 Now I had some experiences where I think it was an angel, but I'm not sure. I can't I can't say for sure, but I think I've I've had some experiences. You know? And so he he just experienced the the angels meeting with him. Alright?

23:28 But all of a sudden it dawns on him, I have a problem. I have a problem. I have a brother who's gonna run into me pretty soon and I'm scared. You ever been scared? I mean, scared where you think you're going to die?

23:45 Have you been scared where somebody threatened your life? I talked to my brother, somebody was threatening his life. And I talked to him, I said, hey, what it feel like when somebody started in your life and you didn't know if they're gonna come to your house and get you? He goes, I had a gun by my bed and by my window and everywhere I went. I had placed guns and and and any little noise, I kept jumping up all night and I was scared to death.

24:09 I'm like, yeah. And and so what happened to your faith? Oh, yeah. Well, you believe God and and you read the verses, you're scared to death and you're praying like crazy. So even though he had an experience with the angels right there, and he had the the other experience with the dream were the ladders, it didn't make a difference.

24:29 Somebody's pointing a gun at you when when when your son is gonna die, when when when you when you can't find someone and you think there, you know, there's trouble, it doesn't matter. Get scared, don't you? And and all of the promises seem to kinda like go off like in a fog. And so notice what he says in in chapter 32 and verse nine. And Jacob said, oh god, we look at verse 37, verse seven, and Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.

25:05 Verse nine, Jacob said, oh god of my father Abraham and god of my father Isaac, oh lord, who did say to me, return to the country and to your relatives and I will prosper you. I am unworthy of all the loving kindness and of all that thy faithfulness which I have shown to thy servant, for with the staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother and from the hand of Esau for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mothers with the children. So he was scared. Wait a minute, Jacob, didn't you hear God?

25:49 He said he was with you, he was gonna protect you, he was gonna guide you, and he told you to come back, and didn't the angels just meet you, and then you caught a manhunt because you hung up with the angels there? And but he says, no. I'm I'm I'm still scared. I'm scared silly. And so he praised to God in such a humble way.

26:11 You know, God, I'm so unworthy, but you've blessed me regardless of my lack of faith, regardless of of how I am, you're you're still so good to me, and you still bless me, and and you're there for me, but I'm honest, I'm I'm afraid. I'm afraid. And so then notice other things go on, you can read the text yourself, but then let's get to verse 24 and notice what the text says. Then then Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. Now, isn't this interesting?

26:46 He he's scared. He does his prayer. After he had met with the angels, he's still scared and after god had told him, come back, I'm going to be with you. He's still afraid And then suddenly this man appears, he's all by himself, this man appears and he's wrestling with him. Verse 25, and when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh so that the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

27:38 So Israel Israel means to strive with God and to prevail. What's this all about? What's this all about? So some wrestling match. He wrestled with them all night.

27:52 It it kinda like it doesn't make any sense. So who is this guy that just shows up and then he changes his name? Well, obviously, we know that it wasn't just any man. Now, if you go back to Hosea, it sheds light or or if you want to just listen, I'll read it to you. Hosea shed some light and and tells us who this was.

28:10 Alright? And and so does... We continue in Genesis. We'll see again some more light. But basically, what what we're going to learn here is a bunch of stuff that's not written, but it's kind of said, this is what happened.

28:26 And so listen to what he says, in the womb, he took his brother by the heel, that is Jacob, since he was born, was very crafty, very tricky. This is the kind of guy you wouldn't trust. You know, this guy might, you know, somehow shaft me so he can get an advantage over me. But notice what it says, and in his maturity, he contended with God. So, in other words, he grew up not not necessarily physically though he was twenty years older but spiritually maturing.

28:59 So, what the Bible is telling us that when he was young, it was about him and how he can get things fixed and figure things out. But as he got older in his maturity, he learned to contend with God. Well, what does that mean? What does that mean that he learned to contend with God or he contended with God? Notice what he says, verse four, yes, he wrestled with the angel.

29:20 Wait a minute. Genesis said it was a man. Hosea said it was an angel. Well, we know that it was a... It was the Lord Jesus Christ who was wrestling with the pre incarnate Christ.

29:33 I'll tell you why in a minute. Notice what it says though, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and he sought his favor, and he found them at Bethel, and there he spoke with us. Now notice a couple of things. First of all, you know that if you're wrestling with the lord Jesus, I don't think you're to win the wrestling match.

29:54 You think you'll you'll win? Right? Yesterday, I saw a video of JJ Watt squatting 590 pounds or something like that. Like, oh my word. Where is this guy?

30:03 He's a superhuman, right? Just a bunch of times, and like, my word, I couldn't even do that with a jack, you know, lift up that much weight. But do you think a guy like that could could whip the angel of the Lord? Of course not. Of course not.

30:19 So, it wasn't it wasn't a literal, you know, let's go at it. I've been training, working on and here comes this man and and and oh, I pinned him down. That that's not the that's not the point. What's the point? He was scared silly and he's crying out to God.

30:34 He's praying, he's wrestling in prayer. The angel of the Lord could easily just touch his socket and that was it. He was all limp. So it wasn't a real match physically. It was a spiritual battle.

30:46 He was crying out to God. He was crying out to God. And people, one thing the Lord's been teaching me is this, that I need to learn to contend with God in prayer. Do you want God to change? You want God to save someone?

31:00 You you want God to change your son or your daughter or the circumstance? We need to learn to get down and and just cry out to god and contend with him in prayer. Somehow, god demands this from us that we get to that point in maturity of of our Christian walk where we where where we start wrestling physically but start wrestling spiritually in in in prayer. And we need to learn that and so when he was young, it was all about Jacob. When he got older and he matured, it was about him crying out to god and and wrestling with god in prayer.

31:32 God, if you don't change, if you don't touch Esau's heart, he's going to kill me and I'm scared. Bless me. And so the same with you. I don't know what's weighing heavy in your heart, what what your issue is, but God wants you to contend with them in prayer. And I found this to be true as well, that when we want people to get saved, God doesn't just give it to you, you have to cry out to God in prayer and keep crying out to God, and keep wrestling with God until he gives us souls.

32:08 And and that's the way it is. Even with my sister battling her cancer and all her sicknesses, she's continuing with him in prayer. That's what her questions to me. Why is God doing this to me? I said, don't know, but keep praying until God shows you.

32:23 Maybe he just wants you to trust him and never gonna answer you. And so so so Jacob had to learn to contend with God. And so the man that shows up then... Let's go back to Genesis. The man that shows up was the Lord Jesus himself.

32:53 Where was it? Verse 22. Genesis 32 to 22. Now here arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his 11 children and he crossed the Fort Of Jabbok. Why why did he say he met him at Bethel in in Hosea?

33:12 Because god takes Jacob right back to the very beginning. Jacob, you're crying out to me, contending with me, and that's what I want. But I want you to remember this, that the promise I made at Bethel is the same promise and the same blessing that I'm gonna give you right now. It it it all goes back to trusting what I say, going back to when I met with you when you were in Bethel, and I told you I was gonna be with you, and I was gonna protect you, and I was gonna bring you back. And when I say something, I mean it.

33:41 And so even though they were by the river Jabbok, he takes them back to Bethel. That original promise I made is still true, Jacob. That I wasn't gonna leave you, and I wasn't gonna forsake you, and I was gonna be with you, and Esau is not gonna touch you because that's what I said. And so we see then that... Verse 27.

34:06 I said to him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, your name shall no longer be Jacob. Alright? Which means what?

34:13 He'll catch you or deceiver. We're gonna change your name Jacob because you're maturing. You're learning to contend with me in prayer but Israel for you have striven with God that is in prayer and with men have prevailed. Jacob your name is now God's fighter, he who strives through prayer. And so God demands prayer.

34:40 He wants to get us to the point where we're... We stop trusting in ourselves, in our craftiness, in our plans, and how can I fix this? How can I figure it out? Maybe if we go to another doctor, maybe we get a third opinion. Maybe if...

34:54 And God says, no, contend with me in prayer. And that's where I want to get you to that point. And so then notice, then Jacob asked him and he said, please tell me your name. And he says, why is it that you asked my name? And he blessed him there.

35:11 So Jacob named the place Panio. There he goes. He's always naming something, isn't he? For he said, I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved. And so how do you see him?

35:25 Through prayer, through that big wrestling match of crying out to God all night, of striving in prayer, and and and I'm asking the Lord to awaken my heart and make me a man of prayer and to make us a body of prayer. And listen, you wanna see God do powerful things? And to transform and start answering prayers, we need to go to him. We need to go to him. And sometimes it means turning off the TV.

35:51 Sometimes it means, you know, sacrificing something so that we can meet with God at a time of prayer. And so what does the Bible say? It says that that... What's his name? I forgot his name.

36:09 The guy that prayed... Elijah, He prayed and the bible says clearly that he was an a regular man like you and I, but he prayed and what happened? A drought came. God heard his prayer. And and because he was a righteous man.

36:26 And he prayed and fire came, and he prayed and water came. And Hannah, Hannah wanted a baby. She come before the Lord, and she pours out her heart, and she cries out to God. And God gave gave her a son. God answered her prayer.

36:47 And so as the Lord says this, seek my face and in my heart I said to thee, thy face, oh Lord, I shall seek. Psalm twenty seven eight. Psalm twenty seven eight. So what... What's the lesson behind all of this?

37:03 We all know the promises of the bible. I mean, some of you... I've heard them so many times, you probably don't want to hear them again. But God wants those promise to become ingrained in your life to where they're real in your life, and you believe them, and then God, secondly, would want us to learn to strive with him in prayer. Strive with him in prayer.

37:26 So Jacob had to learn to stop trusting in his scheming, his trickery, his strength. And so some commentators say that the Lord touched his thigh so that he would stop trusting in his strength. It could be. Others say that he did it so that when he is limping, he would be reminded that that you need to strive with God through prayer and God will deliver you when you pray. But above all, when we pray, we pray for God's will Because Jesus prayed for the cup to pass, and it didn't.

38:31 May we learn to do that as well. Father, we identify with Jacob in so many ways, A man full of all kinds of promises and yet he had to learn to trust you and he had to learn to contend with you in prayer. And, seems as if he finally was beginning to learn at this stage of his life. Help us Lord to learn to contend with you also in prayer and to trust you. Pray this in Jesus name, Amen.