The Breaking of Jacob

It's a fact, we are weak.
It's also a fact that we can't believe that we are so weak.
We struggle with that, surprised and dismayed that we are too weak to resist temptation.
Weakness disappoints us, hurts our pride.
The last thing we would want to do is embrace weakness.
Can we all agree, at least, that we are much more familiar with weakness than we like to admit, much better at putting on a good show of strength when we actually feel completely weak inside?

Jacob the Supplanter
"In the womb, he took his brother by the heel." Hosea 12:3
Oh the trouble we get into when our scheming works! What a false sense of trust we gain from our ability to manipulate! Jacob was quite clever at concocting elaborate plans, tricking his father and stealing his brother's blessing. Granted, his schemes didn't always turn out perfectly, but that didn't keep him from using trickery and deceit to get his way. But now, as he returns home after many years, fear of his brother Esau's revenge is greater than confidence in his plan to sweeten Esau with gifts of livestock sent in waves ahead of him. In the dark and alone, Jacob suddenly finds himself wrestling, not with his thoughts, but with a person.
Why is Jacob struggling, fighting with this man?
How in the world did he end up in a wrestling match with a perfect stranger?

Jacob the Contender
"In his maturity, he contended with God." Hosea 12:3
Jacob wrestled all night, refusing to let go, and in the process he was both blessed and broken.
He got up from this struggle weaker than when he started, left with a permanent limp.
Jacob wrestled with God.

In our own strength, we resist God, refusing to be broken, but brokenness is the sacrifice that God desires, the kind of weakness that pleases Him, the kind He uses to make us strong.
David prayed,
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalm. 51:17
Hannah prayed,
"The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength."  1 Samuel 2:4

Like Jacob, I wrestle with God, I wrestle with His plans for me. Wanting God to bless me with an easier life, I refuse to give up.
But am I prepared to accept what comes with the wrestling, am I prepared for Him to break me?

Can you ever see weakness as the place where you find strength and bind it on?
Could you embrace weakness instead of fighting it?
Could you ever imagine surrendering to weakness instead of wrestling against it?

"I have been wrestling all through the night 

the darkness hides the face of the one I fight 

Beloved Enemy demands my life and all I am 

But then He blesses me and gives it back again

Here I lie broken at Your feet

Rejoicing at this Magnificent Defeat"

words by Wes King

It could be the most magnificent defeat you will ever know!