Hippy Days

“So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.�?Just as he crossed over Penuel [face of God, same as Peniel] the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.�?(Genesis 32:30-31)

While not too many of us are control freaks, control is a problem that we all face. Many women use sex to control men and many men use power, money and force to control women. Only a crisis can deliver us from this natural tendency to control. Jacob, whose name in Hebrew means heel grabber or supplanter, was a controller who connived and manipulated his way to get what he wanted. It was passed down by his not-so-honest mother Rebecca who encouraged him to trick his father Isaac by pretending to be his older twin brother Esau.

Isaac then blessed Jacob, so that Jacob would inherit the blessing God had promised to Abraham. Jacob also learned from his shady uncle Laban, Rebecca’s brother, who changed his wages 10 times and tricked him to work for 14 years, 7 more than was bargained for, to take Rachel as his wife. Jacob’s crisis came when he felt like Steven Seagal in Half Past Dead because he was faced with meeting an angry Esau who said he would kill him and Jacob wasn’t Hard To Kill.

Jacob was afraid, so he retreated and met an angel from God who wrestled with him. Jacob clung to God tighter than Saran wrap and refused to let go. Touched By An Angel, Jacob discovered Hippy Days without any help from Fonzie, Potsie or ABC. Jacob would limp along, because God had to dislocate his hip to overcome his strong self will. God often has to dislocate our hips through failures and disappointments for that’s the only way He can get our attention. Our nature to control and manipulate is so strong that it takes a crisis to wake us up.