“But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart, and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29
When Jacob was found alone with God, wrestling with Him until the break of day, God was bringing Jacob to a place in his heart where he had longed refuse to come. About twenty years before this life-changing moment, when God would give to Jacob a new name, and grant him a specific, and monumental blessing, Jacob had made a vow, saying: “If God will be with me, and keep me in the way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, THEN the Lord shall be my God.” (Gen. 28:21) At this time, Jacob’s devotion, even his faith, was a conditional one with regard to the God who had revealed Himself to him. It was conditional on what God would do for him, when in essence God had by the revelation of Himself at Bethel, had just given to Jacob a blessing that very few have ever had, that perception of His glory and power. After the experience and vow of Bethel, God had instructed Jacob to return to the “land of your fathers, and to your family.” (31:3) Though there was a very real problem of him, his wives, and children, leaving Haran, where his father-in-law was vehemently opposed to him leaving, the greatest obstacle to Jacob returning to the land of his fathers, was in the form of his brother, Esau, whom he had cheated, and stolen from. Upon hearing that Esau, with four hundred men, were coming of meet Jacob, Jacob was gripped with fear, primarily a fear for the safety of his family, but also, for his own life. It would be only in that moment of aloneness with Christ, when he was brought to the end of himself, his resources, being finished with any conditions that he would impose upon God, that God would do something in his heart. Where there had been selfishness, and self-centeredness, God in His mercy and goodness, would meet Jacob in such a way that He would become Jacob’s God, the sovereign Lord of his heart and life. So profound, and permanently changed was Jacob, now named Israel, that God would be His Protector, and the very Provider of every need, so that Christ’s purposes would be realized in the life of Israel. Through Israel’s family would eventually come the Messiah, Christ, the Savior of the world. To a lesser extent, from one of his sons, Joseph, the then known world, engulfed in a famine for seven years, would be the savior of thousands of lives, because of the blessing of God upon him. The blessing that Jacob was seeking the night of his wrestling with God, was actually the intervention in his own heart of Christ, seeking to become his King, and Lord. The undisputed, unconditional reign of Christ in the heart of Jacob was the contested ground, and Christ would win with one final blow, a hip out of joint so that Jacob, the supplanter, could not flee, only trust utterly in the mercy and grace of God. God became Jacob’s God that night, and in one since the nation of Israel was born, for God would not only bring a single individual to whole-hearted faith that night, but eventually a nation, in and through which He would reveal Himself to the world.
What then characterizes a heart that is wholly Christ’s? John Wesley, in one of his great hymns gives us the answer. “Oh for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, A heart that’s sprinkled with the blood, so freely shed for me. A heart resigned, submissive meek, My dear Redeemer’s throne; where only Christ is heard to speak, where Jesus reigns alone.” The key to having such a heart is the fulness of Christ’s Spirit, given in response to earnest faith in God’s faithfulness.
Dear Father, Give us pure hearts. In Jesus’ name, Amen.