"I Have Seen God Face To
Face"
Genesis 32:30
Jacob called the name of the place where
he had met God "Peniel", because, he said, "I have seen God face
to face, and my life is preserved." This was much more than a mere
emotional experience. Jacob had met the living God! The hand of God had touched
him. He had personally encountered his Redeemer. God, who might have justly
killed him, blessed him with life. Jacob would never be the same. Having met
the living God, it would be a small thing now to face Esau! He who has met God
and lived has no need to fear anything or anyone! "And as he passed over
Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh."
As Jacob left Penuel, "the sun rose
upon him." This was a token of God's favor. "The Sun of
righteousness" rises and shines upon all who are blessed of God (Mal.
4:2). With the sun shining upon him, as he walked with God, Jacob might well
have been assured that "the path of the just shineth more and more unto
the perfect day."
While Jacob walked with God, he
"halted upon his thigh." The sinew of his thigh shrank, but it was
not removed. Do you see a parallel in your own experience? Though God, by his
almighty grace, subdues our flesh, he does not remove it from us in this world.
As long as we live in this body of flesh, we will go halting through this
world. Our weakness and infirmities in the flesh force us always to lean upon
Christ. God will never allow his children to trust in themselves that they are
righteous, or even strong. He graciously forces us to lean upon Christ.
However, religious men and women who never
experience God's grace will always substitute idolatrous superstition and works
for the knowledge of Christ and his grace. "The children of
Don Fortner