September 17

Read: Genesis 32:24-26

I All not Let thee go, except thou bless me (Genesis 32:26).

I Will Not Let Thee Go

It is God who takes the initiative in the struggle for the soul. It was the heavenly visitor who at first grappled with Jacob. Who was he — an angel of God? Or God himself in human form? We cannot be sure, but we know that God here made His power real to Jacob — and Jacob recognized the divine character of the struggle.

It was God who took the initiative but it was Jacob who resisted. The contest was long because God never gives up the struggle for a soul until He has done His best to bring us under His sovereign rule. The angel put Jacob’s thigh out of joint in order that the man might know the power of God and be persuaded to yield himself to God’s love. Here is the divine blow that both wounds and heals. A man may thereafter walk with a limp, but he never regrets it while he walks in divine fellowship.

God takes the initiative and presses the struggle, but He leaves the final decision to us. At this point the initiative passes from Seeker to the sought. At daybreak God said, “I will press myself upon you no longer. I am ready to go my way.” But Jacob now knew who it was with whom he wrestled. He sensed the high significance of this encounter and desperately declared: “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.’, Here is the one human command that God delights to obey. When I truly want His blessing, I may have it.

Yield to me now, for I am weak But confident in self-despair; Speak to my heart, in blessings speak, Be conquered by my instant prayer.

— Hymns of the Living Faith