Daily Devotional
Wrestling Into Deliverance
Jacob does not meet deliverance as a man at ease. He is afraid, he makes restitution as he can, he divides his company, he prays, and then he is left alone to wrestle through the night. So also the psalm teaches us to call upon the Lord not with idle lips, but from the straits of death, while confessing Him as rock, fortress, and deliverer. God’s help is not given to the slothful. He hears those who cling to Him, repent of crooked ways, and endure until dawn.
In Jacob’s struggle, the Lord both wounds and blesses. The new name comes with a limp. This is the pattern of true conversion: the proud man is struck, the grasping man learns to cling rightly, and the fearful man goes on to meet his brother in humility. Novatian says, “Undoubtedly Jacob saw God with whom he wrestled, though it was a man whom he held…” The one who contends with God in prayer and obedience is not destroyed, but remade.
The psalm joins this mystery to the calling of the nations. The God who thunders from heaven also receives those who once did not know Him. As Tertullian says, “And who, in the hearing of the ear, gave heed to him, but we, who forsaking idols, have been converted to God?” Therefore let no one boast in birth or strength. Let him boast only in this: that when the Lord found him in darkness, he forsook his idols.
Today, then, do not flee the hard obedience set before you. Pray steadily, make peace where you have done wrong, and accept the wound that kills your pride. Better to limp into blessing than to run whole into judgment.
“Now this man who wrestled with Jacob says to him, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” And if Israel is a man who “sees God,” then the Lord was showing in an elegant manner that he who wrestled with Jacob was not only man but also God. Undoubtedly Jacob saw God with whom he wrestled, though it was a man whom he held…”
— Novatian
““A people,” he says.… But what is the “people” that was ignorant of God, but ours, who in days bygone knew not God? And who, in the hearing of the ear, gave heed to him, but we, who forsaking idols, have been converted to God?”
— Tertullian
For Reflection & Discussion
What restitution or peacemaking must you make today with a brother, neighbor, or member of your household before you dare ask God for deliverance?
At what fixed times today will you pray Psalm 18, asking the Lord for help with plain words and persevering until the matter is laid before Him?
What idol of pride, anger, money, pleasure, or reputation will you renounce in a concrete act today—by confession, fasting, almsgiving, or refusing a sinful habit?
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