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in the Middle East for almost 150 years The Nazareth Trust Healing in the Name of Jesus Since 1861
in the Middle East for almost 150 years The Nazareth Trust Healing in the Name of Jesus Since 1861
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Welcome to our regular devotional e-mail again, as we keep in touch and encourage each other.
Devotion
The devotion this week centres around the story of Jacob which is found in Genesis. Jacob was the second son of Rebekah and brother of Esau. He had a history of deception, taking his brother’s birthright and deceiving his father in order to obtain the blessing intended for Esau. This was foretold in Genesis 25: 23 “The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."
However, despite this mixed history, Jacob was a man of passion and determination, which God knew and loved him for. Malachi 1:2-3 “"Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated”.
He was a man of determination, gripping his brother’s heel as he was born and working 14 years for the wife he loved. The story we are focusing on today is found in Genesis 32: 22 – 32.
“That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.
Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon.”
Jacob refused to let go. In 1 Corinthians 9: 24 – 25 Paul says
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. “
Jacob did this at the cost of his health, walking with a limp, and at the risk of his life, as we see in verse 30 “I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared.”.
However, he also received a great reward. He who had been known as the deceiver was renamed, given the name of the one who perseveres or God strives. He became Israel, the father of the nation.
In our own lives, we too have this opportunity. So let us also cling on to God and refuse to let go.