Yesterday we read of Jacob's encounter with God in a dream. After the encounter he was pumped, beaming with enthusiasm so much so that he exclaims, "How awesome is this shrine. This is nothing else but the abode of God and gateway to heaven."
Jacob was in his youthful prime, searching for a bride and just filled with love for life.
Today we read of Jacob having another encounter with God. This time, he is alone. This experience is a bit different. For 7 years he had worked for Laban. In those seven years he has acquired to wives and two concubines and 11 children, 10 boys and one girl. He has been busy. He is exhausted and tired. He is also filled with fear over his brother Esau who is headed his way.
Jacob leaves his family and possession on one side of the ford and spends the night alone. In this solitude he encounters God. But this encounter is different, though it is the same God. There is no vision of a stairway to heaven like the first. This encounter is a wrestling match. Jacob wrestles with God, and it is such a tussle that his hip socket is wrenched.
What encounter with God!
The story of Jacob points us to the reality that God will come to us in many ways, not just in great emotion or good feeling, but in all different circumstances. He will seek us and speak to us in a manner that we need, not as we want.
Sometimes we will shout with joy, "how awesome is this place" and think we have found Bethel and sometimes we will be left scratching our heads or even limping, left exclaiming, "Because I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been spared" and know we have found Peniel.
Both Bethel and Peniel reveal the face of God to us and this is the true spiritual journey.
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