Being Broken

Gen. 32:24 And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.Gen. 32:25 - And when the man saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him.Gen. 32:28 - And He said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but  Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.Gen. 32:30 - And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for, he said, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been preserved.Gen. 32:31 - And the sun rose upon him as he crossed over Penuel, and he limped because of his hip.

This reading of the word few weeks ago gave me a lot of light. In our natural man we are individualistic and selfish as Jacob's name implies, a supplanter. We are "bluff-masters" indeed in our sinful nature. But the Lord loves us and He will do anything to gain us by all means. So the need for dealing and breaking.

Until the break of dawn indicates that the time of the incident was midnight. Night is darkness, and darkness is the absence of light. Spiritually, when we are individualistic and in ourself in our undealt natural man, we are void of God's divine life and we are in the darkness, in the night. Even at such time, the Lord would visit us, to deal with us and gain us, as signified by the "a man" visiting Jacob.

A man, an angel of Jehovah visited him, wrestled with him and broke the socket of his hip. Who or what is this "man" subjectively? It could be persons, matters or things, which the Lord sovereignly uses to break our natural man. Many times, the Lord uses compatible ones to break our strongest part, "our thigh".

Oftentimes, we are too strong and too good in certain things and we don't depend on the Lord. Thus, our strongest part becomes our weakest part; the things we are good at, our strong point in our natural man, becomes our weak part in our spiritual man, as we fail to depend on the Lord. Therefore, our thigh of strength need to be touched and broken. Many things we faces are the Lord's visitation, perhaps, sicknesses, losses or even deaths and the likes are the Lord's dislocating of our hip. So that we would limp and never trust in what we used to trust any longer, except in the Lord Himself.

We should thank the Lord for "a man" whom He sent to wrestle with us until the break of dawn. Hallelujah! By and through this wrestling we face God, face to face. That's why that place of wrestling was named Penuel, meaning face to face with God. This is a turning point and a crucial phase of our Christian life. Without such experience, there can be no growth, much less, maturity. We all need to come face to face with God. Meet God in every situation.

After this dealing and breaking, two things followed suit: change of name and limping. Change of name signifies change of person, for the name denotes the person. And one no longer walks as used to be, but limping begins, dependence on God now and forever.

Henceforth, one is no longer in himself in his undealt natural man but is broken and on the path of transformation unto maturity. Therefore, "the sun rose upon him" walking in the divine light of the Lord onto maturity.

This should be every Christian's experience of life, without which would be an incomplete experience and there would be no way to maturity.

Lord, grace me to be broken, transformed and mature in life to fulfill Your heart's desire.