An Encounter with God!

Lindsay Roberts

There are times in our lives when only God can change a situation. This was the case with Jacob, who was preparing to meet the brother he had tricked years before. Jacob’s name meant “deceiver, trickster, con artist,” and he had fulfilled it right up to stealing the birthright from his brother. Now Esau was coming with 400 men to meet him, and Jacob was greatly afraid (Genesis 32:7 NKJV).

Jacob came up with a plan to divide his people into two groups. He said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape” (v.8). Jacob was still relying on his schemes. But, afraid that his plan might fail, he asked God to deliver him. That night Jacob had an encounter with God when a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day (v. 24). During the struggle, Jacob gave up his old nature as a schemer, and in return he received the blessing that he sought (vv.27-30).

When you have an encounter with God, He may or may not change other people, but He’ll change you. And once God changes you, it gives Him the opportunity to change other people. Between the time of Jacob’s distress and his brother’s arrival, Jacob met God. And that encounter changed a situation that looked impossible. Instead of seeking revenge, Esau ran to him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him: and they wept (Genesis 33:4). God can change your impossible situation, too, when you seek Him with all of your heart and yield your will to His good plan for your life!

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