Beholding God’s Face

 Genesis 32: 22-31; Psalm 17:1-7,15

 We return to the story of Jacob. First he dreams of a ladder to heaven, and declares, “Surely the Lord is in this place.” In today’s account he wrestles with what is said to be a man, yet this man blesses him seeming to represent the face of God. In fact, Jacob afterwards calls the place, Peneul meaning, “The face of God.”

Jacob puts up quite the fight here even when his hip is put out of joint, to the point that this man asks to be let go before daybreak, making many scholars think this must be an angelic being since they can’t be seen in the morning light. Jacob seeing his advantage and realizing that he is wrestling a supernatural – maybe even God – says he won’t go unless he blesses him. The man then gives him a name change – like Abram to Abraham, and Saul to Paul. Name changes imply a change of character or stature. Here he is to be named Israel since he has striven with God and humans and has prevailed. Another hint that he is truly wrestling with God.

In our Psalm the psalmist is not seeking a blessing but deliverance. He asks for vindication and shares how faithful he has been to God holding fast to God’s path. Now is the psalmist depending on his own righteousness to cause God to save him? I think not since he asks him to show God’s steadfast love that God shows to all who seek refuge.

The confidence of the psalmist is seen in verse 15. He will see the face of God in righteousness. Satisfaction will come in the morning when he awakes. God will deliver and in this righteous deliverance he will behold the face the God. God is a righteous deliverer and in this answer to prayer, the psalmist will behold God’s likeness.

Where do we behold the face of God? Is it in nature or in our answers to prayers – when righteousness prevails, and we are blessed by it? We may struggle like Jacob did, with the one he wrestled with, but like the psalmist we can trust in God’s steadfast love and behold the face of God in the blessing of deliverance. Amen

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