Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, September 20, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Who was that man, really? In my translation (NRSV) it just says, “and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.” It doesn’t say “angel.” And when the man changes Jacob’s name, he says it’s because Jacob has “striven with God.” Does he mean literally at that moment? Jacob seemed to think so—that he’d actually seen God face to face. But, um, how does one get into a physical altercation with God and walk away with just a messed up hip?
Yes, it’s metaphorical. But how does one even get into a metaphorical altercation with God and walk away with a minor, chronic ailment? When I argued with God about anything, I lose. It’s a foregone conclusion. A couple decades ago when my life was unmanageable and I wasn’t on speaking terms with God, I wound up deep in food addiction, miserable in my relationships, unhappy with the universe, and generally not a super pleasant person to be around. Unlike Jacob, though, I gave up the fight, and it was in the giving up and letting God be God that the total transformation of my life happened. In the years since, I have learned to be as tenacious as Jacob about the things that matter, but in those things, I’m working with God, rather than against God. (God doesn’t fight my battles for me, but definitely fights them with me while at the same time standing on the sidelines and cheering like crazy).
I still don’t know what God (if it actually was God) intended by tackling Jacob by the river in the middle of the night. All I know is that Jacob was transformed by his striving, just as we all can be.
When have I struggled in my life and come out changed for the better? Where was God in the process?
