Divine Encounters Series – Week 2; Jacob
This week is part two in our series on “Divine Encounters” with God. Today, we are looking at Jacob’s life-changing encounter that not only changed him but also the course of history.
Genesis 32: 22-32 NLT
22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them.
23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.
24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break.
25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.
26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”
29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said. “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
30 Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”
32 (Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.)
- God Wants to Bless Our Future
- God Uses Our Past to Change Us
- God Waits for a Teachable Moment
- God Confronts Us Because He Loves Us
- Stop Wrestling with God
- Cling to God Instead