Evidence of an encounter...

A few days ago I read Genesis 32:22-32. Here we find the story of Jacob's wrestling with God. I began to wonder during the times in my life when I have wrestled with God what have I longed for. Part of my wrestling with God, like Jacob, is a desire to be blessed. If we are honest...all of us, at one time or another, have wanted something from God.

One of the blessings that Jacob finds is amazing. God changes his name from Jacob to Israel. It is as if he generates a brand new identity as a result of his encounter. We all hopefully become "new creaters in Christ"

Also, Jacob becomes closer to God by wrestling with him. Even beyond the actual wrestling, for Jacob to ask God His name is to try and learn more of him. We all come to know God better as a result of wrestling with Him through the ups and downs of life.

However, what I have overlooked time and time again in this passage seemed to stop me in my tracks the other day. When I wrestle with God, like Jacob,I long to have evidence of my encounter with Him. In vv. 24-25 God touches the socket of Jacobs hip and he is no longer the same. When I think about it, Jacob's walk begins to change. You see the change in his name was important, but you would have to talk to him in order to find out his name. How amazing would it be if people knew we had been touched by God by the way we walked? That there was something in the way we carried ourselves that set us apart. Something about the way we lived our lives.

They say our life should be a sermon. Not one that is preached through our words but lived out through our actions. What's your walk looking like today?