Jacob – “I will not let you go until you bless me”

The psalmist remembered a time when he had stood up for righteousness, and he stood alone. He recalls in his prayer how the Lord had helped him. We can learn from his testimony: “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.”

We have those times when the cares of our heart seem to be more than we can bear. Friends bring a lot of support and comfort, but there are some things that only God can do. People bless you with love and prayer, yet only God can console you in the deepest need of your heart. Like Jacob, those who wrestle with God through the night, do so as if they are all by themselves.

A comforting old song says, “Neighbors are kind, I love them everyone; we get along in sweet accord, but when my soul, needs manna from above; where could I go but to the Lord?”

Jacob hung onto God all night long. He said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” The Lord did bless him. That night, years of sin and piles of worries were all settled as he limped away into the dawn of a new day; and a new day it was. At the risk of sounding outdated, we once called that praying through.

Not every prayer requires a wrestling match, or a Gethsemane, but you know when those times come. The amazing thing is the one with whom you wrestle is the same one who wants you to prevail.

Is it time for some of us to stop wrestling, and surrender to God? When we do, we can finally have the Victory.

“Have you prayed all night, till the break of day,
And the morning light drove the dark away?
Did you linger there, till the morning dew,
In prevailing prayer, did you pray it through?”