December 30 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Genesis 32:22–30

Devotional

On his journey to see Esau, Jacob was left alone and wrestled with the Lord to receive God’s grace. He could not cross the Jabbok because of his sins. In these last days of the year, we also are confronted with the reality that we need God’s grace, and that will only be found when we are alone before God.

Rather than staying behind—alone—we would prefer to enter a new year sheltered in the masses of people around us. We loathe solitude; we want to avoid the Lord. But why do we not stay behind in our closets now, before all people leave us and we are cast upon ourselves? When we die, we will be alone. In the day of death there will be no time anymore. There will be neither a calendar nor a clock. In heaven that will be a blessing, but in hell it will be an eternal terror.

Then Jacob said to the Man who wrestled with him: “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” But as Jacob said this, the Lord touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh so that it was out of joint. Now Jacob was broken in his own strength. Now he had become dependent on God’s free grace alone. And so he prayed to his Judge for mercy.

Are there any among us who are like Jacob? We must do like Jacob did. He could not walk properly on his own feet anymore because of his injured thigh, and now he had to lean fully on his adversary. In this way a debtor cleaves to heaven to receive mercy and grace. Ultimately, sinners are not able to do anything, but the Lord supports and helps them. In the end it is not so important what the sinner does, but what God does. Jacob can cry out to God all he wants; yet this does not oblige God to hear him or to be gracious towards him, otherwise grace would not be grace. The astonishing miracle is that the Lord is willing to accept that guilty, wrestling person without hesitation. At the end of this year, we too, like Jacob, hear this message of grace. The Lord is willing to hear our cries for mercy!

Jacob remained alone, but it was a happy solitude. The more we are alone, the more room there will be for Christ in our lives. Christ remained alone when He was forsaken by God and men. No one was with Him when He had to cross the river of death; even the Father forsook Him. All this happened so that a guilty Jacob would cling to the Lord. May the Lord be magnified even at the end of this year.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.