A Rock and A Hard Place

Jacob is on the run because he thinks his brother wanted to kill him. He gets tired and stops and lays down on a rock as a pillow.

There he has this dream... a stairway to heaven. Where the angels are going up and down the ladder between heaven and earth.

The Lord is standing at the top and watching.

The Lord is speaking confirmation over Jacob reminding him of the promise he has already made to Jacob's dad and grandad---talking about a God who gives generational promises

That promise includes us and JESUS..Jesus would be born from these promises. ALL people on earth will blessed v 14

In verse 15, The Lord is promising Jacob

1. I am with you/watching over you (protection)

2. I will bring you back to this land (provision)

3. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised (promise keeper)

The next verse we read is chapter 32:22-28

Jacob sends his family and possessions ahead of him to meet Esua in the hope of pacifying the heat between them.

So he is alone v 24

Fighting for a blessing

A man wrestles with him.. the man could not overpower Jacob so he hit him with a divine move to break his hip socket.

So now we have Jacob who is broken and holding on to the man requesting a blessing.

"I will not let you go until you bless me"

He was like I'm getting something from wrestling with you all night long.

Jacob asked for his name but got a new name for himself instead

His name goes from Jacob( deceiver) to Israel (he struggles with God)

• You can still have a promise in a hard place

• You can access heaven through Christ who is your stairway

• Angels are real ministering spirits who are getting orders from God and delivering them back to earth

• God is watching and speaking to us today. He speaks with his identity and his promises

• Sometimes God has to get us to alone to do his work in us. Removing the family/possesions

• For healing to take place, there must be something broken in us.

• Brokenness produces blessings. We don't look the same after we have been broken and blessed

• There will be an identity change after you have an encounter with the Living God. Your character changes. Jacob went from a deceiver to a believer 2 Corinthians 5:17

• In that time period, a name change was significant to a person changed

• Don't think because its hard right now, the promise won't come. Jacob was sleeping on the promise

• The man let Jacob think he won until he got his lick in. God will let you play the game as long as you want but he sends for you like this...our self-sufficiency is no match for him

• Jacob asking for a blessing shows a shift in his faith. He had no more fight in him. Sometimes is our breaking point to run to Christ that changes us.

• The man asking Jacob "whats your name" was making Jacob come to terms with who he really was. Jacob the trickster.

• Changing his name gave him a new identity and this began his relationship with God.

• "He blessed him there"--God can bless you right where you are. Even in a hard place.

The Digest Questions

1. Where is your current "hard place"?

2. Have you sought God to access the Kingdom via the ladder we have in Christ?

3. How does knowing God is watching over you console you in this place?

4. What are you wrestling with God about?

5. What must he break in you ? What blessing do you desire from God?

The Chew

God may have to remove some people, some possessions to get you in alone hard place to do his best life-changing work in you for his glory. What he promises HE will do in You !