Dear Friends,

Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go along side you.” But Jacob said to him., “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me; and if they are overdriven for one day, all the flocks will die. Let my Lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my Lord to Seir” (Gen 33:12-14).

Jacob was known for his shrewdness and his work ethic, not his tenderness. He made a sharp bargain to take his brother Esau’s birthright. He cheated his brother out of their Father Isaac’s blessing. When his Uncle Laban cheated him out of a promised reward for seven years of service, Jacob worked another seven years for what he wanted. He ultimately outsmarted the scheming Laban and became a rich man in the process.

Jacob was focused on success and ruthlessly pursued it. When Jacob had everything he wanted from Laban, he drove away hard and fast to get back where he had started from (Gen 31:17-21).

The next challenge was Esau who had sworn to kill Jacob in revenge. The ever-clever Jacob set up his best plan ever employing multiple strategies to appease his brother (Gen 32:3-21). He mixed in prayer for divine help with lavish gifts of livestock sent ahead to buy peace with Esau.  He also divided his livestock and personnel to hedge his risk against the vengeful Esau. Then Jacob waited alone in the dark.

God will never share us with our idols.  He will patiently out-wait the cleverness and busyness that distract us from him. When we are still and alone, he comes for us as he came for Jacob and settles the matter of who rules in our lives. “Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak” (Gen 32:24)

It seemed like an even match at first. Jacob was so strong that he battled God to a draw, until with some ease, God dislocated Jacob’s hip just before the dawn. Jacob knowing he was overmatched clung to God and refused to let go “unless you bless me” (Gen 32:26).

God gave Jacob a new name, Israel,” for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed” (Gen 32:28). It was a new identity for a man whose name and reputation were synonymous with trickery and fraud.

Our God is not subtle. He comes right at our selfish strength and pride that make us think we need no one and nothing else. There is no stadium to stage these epic contests between the Divine and human wills. There is no referee to decide what is fair or foul. There are no spectators for these night conflicts of prayer. This is desperate, sweaty hand-to-hand combat in the dust and grit on the border between our everyday existence and our dreams and expectations for more.

More God and less of everything else is what comes out of these prayer battles for those who stay in the struggle with God and refuse to let him go until he has forged a new identity for them. The limp we leave with will forever remind us that he has gained the victory over us, in us and through us.

God was generous in saying that the crippled Jacob was the prevailing party in their contest. But I think that Jacob would tell us that he agreed with God. After all he lost the contest, but in asking for God’s blessing he gained a fresh new identity, a reconciliation with his brother, and a tender heart and slower walk to care for his children and his nursing livestock..

Sin has left us thinking in terms of a won-lost record, and who is stronger or weaker so we can pick our side. God is love and thinks in terms of grace. Jacob thought he had to earn or take his rewards. God wanted Jacob to know in his heart as well as his head that God would take care of him and everyone and everything he was concerned about.

The take-away message for us is losing to God is always a win. Blessed are those who walk with a limp to prove it.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).

Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.

Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Placespublished by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.

 

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