"Learning To Let Go But Hold On "

(Gen. 32:24) "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." In every Christian's life there comes a time when we need to let go of fear and just hold on to God. Jacob came to that place one night as he waited for his brother Esau to come and meet him. Twenty years earlier he tricked Esau out of his birthright and the blessing of God, and Esau vowed to kill him. That night while Jacob was alone and fearful in his tent, a man appeared in the dark and began to fight with him. Later Jacob would say, "for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." That man in the tent was none other than the Lord Jesus. The wrestling was over the power of God and the fear of Esau. Jacob would not quit wrestling until God gave him His power and His blessing. Just like Jacob, there needs to be a time in our life where we stop wrestling with God over our fears, and just let God have our problems. When Esau arrived God had already changed his heart and fixed the problem. That night God changed a conniving Jacob into a Prince called Israel, for God said, "for thou has power with God and with men." Jacob was never the same, and neither will we be once we realize that God's power and blesings are not gained by the works of our flesh but rather by our faith in a powerful God.