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"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until
the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not
against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of
Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said,
Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And
he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more
Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with
men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I
pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask
after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the
name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my
life is preserved". Genesis 32:24-30, KJV.
There are times in our lives when we get caught up in situations
from which deliverance seems impossible such as sickness,
financial problems, relationship problems, job issues, emotional and
psychological problems, etc. Things do not always turn out the way
we expect. The people of the world advice us to do this and that,
they criticize us for being weak, foolish or useless because to the
world, a Christian looks weak. When you are a Christian, God
makes you weak, so that the only option you have is to make God
your strength and wisdom in everyday life. The way the people of
the world deal with their problems is different from a way a
believer in Christ deals with his/her problems. The people of the
world depend on other people or their own self wisdom or they
appease their gods to overcome their problems but everything
comes short. When we give our life to Jesus and follow His Will in
our life, God lets some problems come in our life where we feel
stuck. During these times, family and friends will either desert us
or are incapable of helping us out of our problems. God allows
problems in our so that He can test us whether we still trust Him in
our hardships and to make us learn to depend on God. Satan uses
the circumstances and people in our life to attack us. He
overwhelms us with fear and torments us. It is during these times
that we sometimes regret to have followed God. We look at the
people of this world going about their life with ease and get
offended at God for putting us through hardships. But irrespective
of our circumstances and our feelings, we have to trust God, for He
is our only Help. When things go wrong in a Christians life the
first thing we do is blame the Lord, murmur against Him and
sometimes turn our backs on Him instead of running to Him for
safety. Some of us, because of the hardness of our hearts, often do
not respond to God even in adverse circumstances.
If you are a true Christian, God will bring you to a place of utter
helplessness. Jacob wrestled with God and God crippled him; his
final weapon was gone. If all his plans and strength had failed, at
least he could have run; but now, he couldnt even run. God brought
Jacob to the place of utter, absolute, complete brokenness and
dependence. Then He blessed Jacob. For the first time in his life,
Jacob got a hold of the Lord. He said, Oh God, I need You. God, I
will not let you go except You bless me. God had been waiting to
hear those words for so long, and at that moment, something
wonderful took place. The Angel of the Lord asked Jacob for his
name. God knew it, but He wanted Jacob to confess his name which
further meant liar, cheater, crook, fraud, schemer, and deceiver.
Then, God gave him a new name, Israel, which means, a prince of
God. He became a prince with God because he finally came to the
end of himself. You see, God wanted to bless Jacob, not hurt him.
God crippled him that he might crown him. God broke him that he
might bless him.
Do you know why many of us are not yet truly blessed? We have not
yet been truly broken. Men throw broken things away, but God
never uses anything until he first breaks it. Youll never show me
anybody who has been or will be mightily used of God who has not
life with out Gods permission. If God has allowed it, then He has a
greater purpose to glorify His name. When we are too weak to
deliver ourselves, God delivers us and we become a testimony of
Gods favour and blessing over our lives. So dont lose hope. A
Christian has hope even in the hardest of trials because we serve a
God who delivers and sets captives free. Your sorrow will turn to
joy and your darkness into light. But you need to wait on Gods
timing and submit yourself to God. In His time, He will deliver you.
God teaches us many spiritual lessons during times of adversity.
Adversity changes us either for our best or worse. A person who
trusts God during adversity will be transformed to be like Jesus.
It doesn't mean we will be perfect. As long as we are in this
fallen world, we will have short comings, but adversity softens our
heart towards other people and cultivates in us compassion,
kindness, love and patience for others. It teaches us many precious
lessons. But when a person hardens his heart towards God and gets
offended by God during times of adversity, he becomes even more
hard hearted, cruel, mean and bitter towards other people. "For
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented
of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death". 2 Corinthians 7:10,
KJV. We may not be great, strong, wise people but God is still God!"
No matter what, God is still God, and we can still trust Him to
deliver us.
God delivers just the right people! Are you one of His people?
Have you placed your faith in Christ alone for Salvation and
allowed Him to give you a home in Heaven and a changed life
now?
If you have done these things you are one of Gods people! John
1:12-13, John 10:27-30, KJV.