Readings: Genesis 32:22–31; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5; Luke 18:1–8

Jacob is coming home, but the main problem that took him away about 20 years ago is still there: his brother Esau wanted to kill him. So he sent gifts to Esau, many animals from his herd. He’s brought his family over the Jabbok river and while he’s back on the other side, alone, a man appears out of nowhere to wrestle with him. Jacob, fighting for his life, wins until the man puts his socket out of joint and then Jacob cries uncle, so to speak, begging for a blessing. He receives a new name, and in the morning goes limping to meet his powerful brother, and they are reconciled.

Whatever your story is, if you are a Christian, there is a similarity here. You have been vulnerable, desperate, possibly fighting for your life and you find that your struggle in prayer ends in your utter collapse before God, your admission that you are weak, helpless, needy. But perhaps you remember that his strength is made perfect in weakness, and you hope again, you wait for God to work, and you live in your new name: Christian. Not the one who struggles with God and man and overcomes but the one for whom Christ died and lives and intercedes.

—Beth Werner Lee