In our quest for more of Him, very few will make the move towards the Holy of Holies - the secret place of the Most High. Not because it is not available to them, but due to the fact they will not stay the course long enough to get there. Jacob endured as a lover, waiting for Rachael fourteen years, but that was not enough. He stayed the course and pursued the greatest lover of all - The God of his ancestors Abraham and Isaac.
His invitation to enter the Holy of Holies came in Genesis 28, where he dreamt of a ladder, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. The promise he received in that invitation, would mark his life forever. With every invitation comes a price to pay. He wrestled with God all night. Just before daybreak comes the darkest hour of the night. Surely, the Dark Nights are for those who are serious about living at a higher spiritual level. They are not for the faint of heart.
Jacob accepted the invitation to a deeper walk with the Lord in Genesis 28 and in Genesis 32, he was about to pay the price for encountering God in a unique way. He would not let go of Him until He declared a blessing over him. In His relentless pursuit of God, a divine exchange took place at that moment. In response to Jacob's desperation and hunger for Him, God renamed him Israel- he who prevails victoriously with God. In Jewish culture, a name defines a person's destiny. It was as if in that moment of time, which was until daybreak for Jacob, God erased his past, defined his future and left him with a disjointed thigh in the present - the price he paid for pressing towards the upward call in God. Jacob got a new name, signifying that from now on he would walk in his God given destiny, a destiny God had already appointed for him while he was in his mother's womb. He also had a new limp, a continual reminder of his unique encounter which left him without the fear of man, but in the awesome fear of God. It was not as if Elohim was literally overpowered by Jacob, but in His grace He allowed him to hang on, seeing that Jacob’s faith and understanding were growing as he clung to Him. Jacob found out that you do not get anywhere with God by struggling and resisting; the only way that you get anywhere with Him is by yielding and just holding on to Him.
This passage serves as a challenge to move into higher realms of intimacy, even through the deepest, darkest times of your life. What did it take for a man like Jacob to contend with God - hunger and desperation. The greatest breakthrough you could every contend for is living at an increasingly growing measure of His presence in your life.
All else is dung, as Apostle Paul righty points out in Philippians 3, compared to progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him. Your greatest challenge, your greatest Esau could only be a set up by God to bring you into a deeper, intimate walk with Him, where your destiny becomes clear in the light of His face.
