(Gen. 32:24) "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." In the above verse, God brought Jacob to the place where he must now face his brother Esau. Twenty years earlier he tricked Esau out of his birthright and the blessing of God, and Esau vowed to kill him. This night while Jacob was left alone in his tent, a man suddenly appeared in the dark and began to wrestle with him. Jacob knew that this man was sent from God, but little did Jacob know that this night he was wrestling not with an angel or a man, but rather the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jacob would later say, "for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." Just like Jacob, there needs to be a time in our life where we stop wrestling in the flesh, and surrender to God’s will and way for our lives. That night God changed a conniving Jacob into a Prince called Israel, for God said, "for thou has power with God and with men. Once the wrestling was over Jacob learned that his true power was not in his ability to manipulate but rather in his ability to simply trust God to handle his problems. By the time Esau arrived God had already changed the heart of Esau from hatred to a love for his brother. Jacob was never the same, and neither will we be once we realize that God's power and blessing is not acquired by the works of our flesh, but rather by our faith in a prayer answering God.
