Emphasis Preaching Journal

Jacob may have been the first person of faith to wrestle with God, but he was certainly not the last. In this puzzling story of Jacob's encounter with this entity -- a man, an angel, God? -- Jacob survives, but he is forever marked with a limp as a reminder of his striving. Just as God called Jacob to a new place, to escape from his father-in-law, to a confrontation with his brother, to a new life in a new place, so too, God calls us to things we may not want to do and places we may not want to go.