{"id":16371,"date":"2021-06-25T22:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T05:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_32_1-12-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-06-20T00:19:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T07:19:16","slug":"genesis_32_13-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_32_13-32\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purpose of God\u2019s Gifts + The Lesson of the Limp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 32:13-32 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 32:13-32.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 32:13-21 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau:
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.'”
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-21:\u00a0\u00a0To hopefully appease Esau\u2019s anger and soften Esau\u2019s heart, Jacob sends a series of lavish gifts to Esau consisting of one herd of animals after another.\u00a0\u00a0The picture of Jacob sending all these gifts to Esau makes me think of the way God sends gift after gift in the form of people and other blessings that God places in our lives.\u00a0\u00a0As John 1:16 says, \u201cFrom the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0God sends us many gifts so that we would know His heart.\u00a0\u00a0The gifts were always meant to point to the Giver.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Yet our tendency is to focus on the gifts and forget about the Giver.\u00a0\u00a0So the next time you think about the blessings in your life, remember this:\u00a0God gives us blessings not just for our enjoyment, but even more so that we would know the Giver of those blessings, because knowing the Giver is the greatest blessing of all.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 32:22-24 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-24:\u00a0\u00a0Notice that it was only when Jacob was alone that a man, who turns out to be an angel from God, wrestles with him.\u00a0\u00a0For me it\u2019s a reminder that\u00a0if you want to experience God and encounter Him, you need to get alone with Him.\u00a0\u00a0Getting alone with God and also drawing near to God with others \u2013 solitude and community \u2013are both essential<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0One of my favourites quotes on this point is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic book\u00a0Life Together,\u00a0<\/em>once wrote something to the effect of:\u00a0\u201cLet him who cannot be alone beware of community… Let him who is not in community beware of being alone… Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genesis 32:25 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 25:\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s interesting that the man (the angel) \u201ccould not overpower\u201d Jacob when they wrestled, and yet he could wrench Jacob\u2019s hip with a mere touch.\u00a0\u00a0I believe that\u2019s God\u2019s way with us as well.\u00a0\u00a0Like a father wrestling with his young child, God is gentle with us and even lets us exert our will over Him, but He could at any moment easily summon His power and show us just how strong and mighty He is.\u00a0\u00a0God is gentle in power.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 32:26 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 26:\u00a0\u00a0I love Jacob\u2019s tenacity and his refusal to give up.\u00a0\u00a0When drawing close to God, may you have that same tenacity.\u00a0\u00a0I often find that it\u2019s not in the first few minutes of reading God\u2019s Word that I see something wonderful.\u00a0\u00a0Often it\u2019s only after a period of wrestling with the passage, meditating on His Word and waiting in His presence that something powerful is revealed to my attention.\u00a0\u00a0Blessed are those who are tenacious in wrestling with God and His Word.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 32:27-28 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 27-28:\u00a0\u00a0As a result of this wrestling encounter with God, Jacob\u2019s name is changed to \u201cIsrael\u201d, which means \u201che struggles with God\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The angel reveals the reason for the name change: \u201cbecause you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.\u201d I love that.\u00a0\u00a0With the change in Jacob\u2019s name came a revelation in Jacob\u2019s true identity and destiny.\u00a0\u00a0Jacob learns that with God he was and is an overcomer. Jacob had faced many challenges in life, with more to come, but because Jacob hung on to God and would not let go, Jacob would overcome.<\/p>\n

Likewise, you and I were made to \u201cstruggle with God\u201d, to wrestle with what it means to believe in Him, trust in Him, follow him and walk with Him.\u00a0\u00a0The way we overcome the challenges we face in life is by hanging on to God and knowing that He hangs onto us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 32:29-30 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 29-30:\u00a0\u00a0Jacob probably had an inkling he wasn\u2019t wrestling any ordinary man.\u00a0\u00a0But now in verses 29-30 he realizes with certainty that he just had an encounter with God.\u00a0\u00a0He calls the place of their wrestling match \u201cPeniel\u201d, meaning \u201cface of God\u201d, saying, \u201cbecause I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared\u201d (v30).\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because\u00a0God is so holy that sinners like us could not stand in His presence.\u00a0\u00a0It is only by His mercy \u2013 particularly the mercy He expressed by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins \u2013 that we can experience God face to face and be spared.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 32:31-32 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 31-32:\u00a0\u00a0As Pastor Jon Courson points out, 20 years before when Jacob first encountered God, he left with \u201chappy feet\u201d (see my earlier comments on Genesis 29:1).\u00a0\u00a0Now after this encounter with God, Jacob leaves with a limp.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the lesson behind the limp?\u00a0\u00a0I believe that\u00a0one reason God gave Jacob a limp was to remind Jacob not to depend on himself and his own limited power, but to depend on God and His unlimited power<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s similar to Paul\u2019s thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12.\u00a0\u00a0His weakness was a reminder of God\u2019s strength in his life.\u00a0\u00a0It would be through Jacob\u2019s brokenness that God would reveal His power.<\/p>\n

Have you been broken by God in some way?\u00a0\u00a0Is there a limp in your life that God has allowed in your life?\u00a0\u00a0See the limp as a reminder to rely on God and not on ourselves, and as an opportunity for God to reveal His power through your weakness.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for every gift You have given to me.\u00a0\u00a0I realize today that the big reason why You allow those gifts in my life is that I would look to You and have a soft heart toward You, knowing that You love me.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You also for the limp You allow in my life, for it reminds me to depend on You.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 32:13-32.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 32:13-21 (NIV)
\n13\u00a0\u00a0He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau:
\n14\u00a0\u00a0two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
\n15\u00a0\u00a0thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”……<\/p>\n

On verses 13-21:\u00a0\u00a0To hopefully appease Esau\u2019s anger and soften Esau\u2019s heart, Jacob sends a series of lavish gifts to Esau consisting of one herd of animals after another.\u00a0\u00a0The picture of Jacob sending all these gifts to Esau makes me think of the way God sends gift after gift in the form of people and other blessings that God places in our lives.\u00a0\u00a0As John 1:16 says, \u201cFrom the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0God sends us many gifts so that we would know His heart.\u00a0\u00a0The gifts were always meant to point to the Giver.\u00a0\u00a0Yet our tendency is to focus on the gifts and forget about the Giver.\u00a0\u00a0So the next time you think about the blessings in your life, remember this:\u00a0God gives us blessings not just for our enjoyment, but even more so that we would know the Giver of those blessings, because knowing the Giver is the greatest blessing of all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16372,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16371\/revisions\/16372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}