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Why haven’t you wrestled an angel? I have a hunch and you can tell me if I’m right.

When is the last time you wrestled an angel? When is the last time you did whatever you could to receive a blessing, despite any sort of limitation? When is the last time you have “striven with God and with men and have prevailed?” Jacob will do anything for a blessing, and in the verse above we see the result is the beginning of a family that forever altered the course of history. Is it not interesting that both of the defining moments in Jacob’s life involve scheming or force to receive a blessing? He first uses a clever ploy to obtain his brother’s blessing and then he fights with a stranger (despite a limiting injury) to attain a blessing. This tenacity is not limited to spiritual things either. With a name that literally means, “one who overthrows through force, scheming, or strategy,” Jacob demonstrates throughout his life a tenacity to get what he wants no matter the obstacle. Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:24-28)

When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.