Today Our Daily Bread Genesis 32 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Gensesi 32:1-32
1And Jacob went his way. Angels of God met him. 2When Jacob saw them he said, "Oh! God's Camp!" And he named the place Mahanaim (Campground).
3Then Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir in Edom. 4He instructed them: "Tell my master Esau this, "A message from your servant Jacob: I've been staying with Laban and couldn't get away until now. 5I've acquired cattle and donkeys and sheep; also men and women servants. I'm telling you all this, my master, hoping for your approval.'"
6The messengers came back to Jacob and said, "We talked to your brother Esau and he's on his way to meet you. But he has four hundred men with him."
7Jacob was scared. Very scared. Panicked, he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two camps. 8He thought, "If Esau comes on the first camp and attacks it, the other camp has a chance to get away."

9And then Jacob prayed, "God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, GOD who told me, "Go back to your parents' homeland and I'll treat you well.' 10I don't deserve all the love and loyalty you've shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me--two camps! 11Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I'm afraid he'll come and attack us all, me, the mothers and the children. 12You yourself said, "I will treat you well; I'll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.'"
13He slept the night there. Then he prepared a present for his brother Esau from his possessions: 14two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty camels with their nursing young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16He put a servant in charge of each herd and said, "Go ahead of me and keep a healthy space between each herd."
17Then he instructed the first one out: "When my brother Esau comes close and asks, "Who is your master? Where are you going? Who owns these?' 18-answer him like this, "Your servant Jacob. They are a gift to my master Esau. He's on his way.'"
19He gave the same instructions to the second servant and to the third--to each in turn as they set out with their herds: 20"Say "Your servant Jacob is on his way behind us.'" He thought, "I will soften him up with the succession of gifts. Then when he sees me face-to-face, maybe he'll be glad to welcome me."
21So his gifts went before him while he settled down for the night in the camp.
22But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions.
24But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint.
26The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak."Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me."
27The man said, "What's your name?"He answered, "Jacob."
28The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through."
29Jacob asked, "And what's your name?" The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him.
30Jacob named the place Peniel (God's Face) because, he said, "I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!"
31The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip. 32(This is why Israelites to this day don't eat the hip muscle; because Jacob's hip was thrown out of joint.)

~Lena’s Journalin’~
Jacob is you and I, inside of our human nature, the nature that wars against the things of God. We’ve recently spoken of unity and dwelling with the brethren and also coming into the house of God. In the house of God and in the pursuit of unity, real God-like unity, we will “rub shoulders” with our brothers in the unity of the faith. Hopefully like Jacob, that “rubbing” (see Proverbs below J) will help bring us closer to our change, to our transformation into the image of Christ. Just going to what we call God’s house, going to church services, will not alone transform us into the image of Christ. Encounters with our brothers or even the anticipation of them, can get us there real quick. We think about our struggles to be unified and it sends us running to Our Father for change. That is a God thing. Change is a God thing.
The two camps Jacob was struggling with were his spiritually re-born nature and his old conniving nature, his manipulative nature, his cover myself and make myself look good nature.(Fig leaf, rather than fig-tree thinking) His defensive nature.
A big HUGE enemy of change is self defense, self justification. Don’t you deal with that everyday? The leaning towards proving yourself right all the time, the sway of wanting to look right, to have others see all of your efforts as good ones? Jacob was trying to make a name for himself, he was preparing in his mind to present himself before his brother, but the Lord wants to be our defense, it is the Spirit of the Lord that wants to go before us, the Spirit of the Lord, that wants to justify us by the blood of His Son. It is the Spirit of the Lord who wants to be our everything, proving Himself right, proving His blood good enough to cover our shortcomings. He wants to take our vengeance if we are correct, He wants the glory!
Ever had an all night wrestling match between your spirit and your soul, between God’s word and your reason? Whatcha wrestling about? Change. That’s usually what it is. God and His Holy Spirit and the blood of His Son Jesus want to change us into His Divine image and likeness. He wants a people who desire to be as He is, to allow Him to make them as He is in this world. Something has to lead us there.
The thought of Esau’s encounter led Him to see where he was. 20 years of just going to and casually visiting church did not bring him there. He had to get closer to people, people he didn’t think he liked, in the house of God, brethren. This intimacy, on a relational covenantal level, sent him on a Encounter with God, sent him into the place of change, Divine exchange and transformation. He thought he’d see his brother face to face and was toiling over it.
In his encounter God changed his actual nature, his walk was different from this time forward. He was a new man!
Jacob met God, not only Esau, but God, face to face and was changed- want change? Meet up with God, do it at home, do it at church, do it at an Encounter. Live and dwell with Him, live and dwell in covenant with others, let them “rub” you and know that “rubbing” is the way the Lord has set out to change you!

Psalm 133:1- Behold how good and how pleasant it is (in the ever seeing eyes of the Lord) for brethren to dwell together in unity….
Unity, Us, You and me- changing into His image, together
From glory to glory, face to face.

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.