3 questions

********** *********i have been writing this post for approximately 5 hours now and about three different edit due to dorm check out and a faulty battery plug********************************************************************************************
22-23 But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions.

24-25 But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint.

26 The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak."

Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me."

27 The man said, "What's your name?"

He answered, "Jacob."

28 The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through."

29 Jacob asked, "And what's your name?"
The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him.

30 Jacob named the place Peniel (God's Face) because, he said, "I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!"

31-32 The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip. (This is why Israelites to this day don't eat the hip muscle; because Jacob's hip was thrown out of joint.)


I was reading a devotional this morning about this passage above and I have really been studying this story for about two and half years because it just resonates with me. This mornings devotion focused on the passage from a different perspective. It focused on the three questions proposed between Jacob and the man. The first question was "what's you name?" (who are you? what characteristics about you define you?), follow by a question asked by jacob to the man "what is your name? (who is God? what characteristics define him?) then the man responds "why do you want to know?" (what is your motives for seeking God? your selfish reasons? or to really know Him) I don't think the order of these questions were incidental I think you must grasp each one in order for the next one to make sense. You must understand your depravity and your need for God before you want begin to understand who he is. It is always important to evaluate your motives of your pursuit of God.

For my five readers, what is your favorite bible story and how is it challenging you?