“You have striven with God
and with men and have prevailed”
– Genesis 32:28
When Jacob was a child, he must have heard stories about his father’s and grandfather’s experiences with God. Jacob himself, however, had no relationship with God. He sought after the things of God, even lying and scheming to gain the birthright, but he never sought God Himself. At Bethel, he had his first experience with God, who appeared to him in a dream and said, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land” (Gen. 28:15). But Jacob answered, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take…then the Lord will be my God” (28:20–21). Jacob bargained with God. What he said shows he didn’t treat the Lord as his God, even when he met Him. However, this was a turning point in his experience of God. Though he didn’t yet have a direct relationship with God, through this experience at Bethel, he at least gained firsthand knowledge that God was real.
We all need such a turning point in our lives. Without this, we only know about God but not God Himself. We must turn from the things of God to God Himself. We should tell the Lord from the beginning, “I don’t want to be preoccupied with Christian works and miss having a living relationship with You. May my works all issue from You.”
Adapted from A Sketch of Genesis, by Titus Chu, page 147.
Monday: Jacob Becoming Israel
