Daily Devotions
Genesis
"I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people." Psalm 116:18
Text: Genesis 32:1-32
A HUMBLING REMINDER
How easy it would be to fall back on old ways. Just as soon as Jacob had received a blessing from the Lord, he almost trivialized the occasion by asking to know the Name of the Man who had wrestled with him. The Lord knowing His creatures only too well gave Jacob a humbling reminder.
“He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip
was out of joint…”
GENESIS 32:25
Jacob would no longer be the same man. This physical problem would also serve to keep him humble in life.
“Just as he crossed over Penuel (literally Peniel)
the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.”
GENESIS 32:31
This injury inflicted on him may not have affected his overall life, but this painful disability would always remind him of his encounter with God.
COMMEMORATING A SPECIAL EVENT
At Luz, Jacob had met with the Lord for the first time. To him, Luz would forever be “Bethel” (Cf. Genesis 28:18-22). This sacred place where he had met with the Lord would always be holy and special to him.
“So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel…”
GENESIS 32:30
The word “Peniel” is made up of two words. “Pen…” (Hebrew “panim” literally means “face”) and “El” which means “God”. He had met God, as it were, “face to face” and he had survived to tell the tale!
What was a limp compared to having his life preserved! He could have died for he had had such a close encounter with the Lord! And if he survived the night after having wrestled with the Lord throughout the night, he would surely be preserved from Esau’s anticipated wrath!
OUT OF RESPECT
Israel must have told his children how he met the Lord and how he “wrestled” with Him. Yes, he walked with a limp now, but what was that? Was he not alive? Had he not received a special blessing from the Lord? The limp was nothing to complain about.
“Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat
the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket,
because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle
that shrank.”
GENESIS 32:32
This incident shared with the family must have caused all to stand in awe of the Lord! This ancient story of Jacob’s encounter with the Lord was passed from generation to generation with this added application – an avoidance of the muscle that shrank!