So Jacob was left alone, and
a man wrestled with him till daybreak. Genesis 32:24
On
the trip from the familiar to the unknown, Jacob found himself alone. And God
met him there. But the meeting was not what we would expect. God did not come
to comfort, reassure, or bless. He came to confront. As unpleasant as the
confrontation must have been, it was the only way Jacob could make real
progress toward his future. He had to be confronted with who he had been before
he could become who he was designed to be.
Alone.
Even the word bothers us. Our toughest battles are usually fought alone,
battles of the mind and heart that no one else can share. We wrestle with
doubt, despair, depression, and defeat alone. We often yearn for the comfort of
God, but instead He confronts us with our false idols, our harmful attitudes,
and our destructive patterns. Rather than comfort us in our sin, He confronts
us with His plan. He loves us too much to let us live in self-deception and is
willing to allow us temporary discomfort to provide permanent healing and
blessing. Just as a baby bird must peck its way out of the shell in order to
have the strength to survive, so must we wrestle through those dark alone times
to gain the wisdom and faith to survive when life gets hard.
Do you avoid being alone with your fears and
doubts? Do you keep your life busy and noisy so you won’t have to be alone with
your thoughts? God meets us in those alone times and confronts us with our
idols, our pride, and our deception. He urges us to keep going, keep seeking,
keep wrestling until we find victory. He knows that our faith will be weak and
useless without the struggle. Those struggles refine us, deepen us, and rid us
of junk that will hold us back from His plan. And they must be fought alone.
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