Friday, January 23, 2026

Alex Buabeng-Korsah

TOPIC: GOD BREAKS WHAT HE INTENDS TO BLESS

THEME SCRIPTURE: “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he struggled with God.  Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, and there He spoke to us— Hosea 12:3-4

PREPARATORY QUESTIONS:

1. Jacob had pursued his brother right from the womb. Yet God met him in Bethel and blessed him in Peniel. Why?

Years after securing the blessing, Jacob is still running— now from the consequences of his own schemes. On the eve of meeting Esau again, he finds himself alone by the Jabbok River. There, God confronts him, not with explanations, but with resistance. Jacob wrestles through the night and emerges wounded, limping, and renamed.

This moment marks a turning point. Jacob had spent his life grasping heels, blessings, outcomes. Now he clings not to advantage, but to God Himself.

Jacob cried, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Gen. 32:26). That was his desperate cry. What is your desperate cry to God, precious one? The wound to his hip was not punishment; it was transformation because strength must give way to godly dependence.

The fathers of the Church understood this paradox well. Irenaeus wrote, “Man is perfected through trials, that he may learn obedience.” Jacob’s limp becomes the sign of a man no longer confident in himself. God broke the posture of self-dependence and self-leading in Jacob in order to form the posture of faith and dependence on the everlasting arm of God.

The new name—Israel, “he who strives with God”—signals a shift in identity. Jacob no longer defines himself by cunning or control, but by encounter.

Origen observed, “He who has seen God cannot remain what he was before.” The blessing on Jacob now begins to flow without hindrance through surrender, not human strategy.

The Christian life often mirrors this pattern. God allows us to be brought to the end of our strength so that trust can replace striving. We resist weakness, yet Scripture consistently treats it as the soil where grace abounds. The limp reminded Jacob daily that blessing is sustained by God, not by human effort.

The next day, Jacob meets Esau—not with schemes, but with humility. He bows, he weeps, and reconciliation begins (Gen. 33:4). What fear could not accomplish, God’s transformation did. What pride struggled to embrace, God’s reformation did. The internal struggle had to be resolved before the external one could be faced.

This devotional calls us to reconsider our resistance to being “weakened.” We feel weakened when we are not the ones in control of affairs. God’s discipline is not aimed at diminishing us, but at freeing us from illusions of control. The blessing God has in store for you this year cannot be carried by the person you were, but the surrendered and dependent person you have become in Him.

Remain blessed.

FURTHER READING – Genesis 32:22–32

Call to Salvation: Today is your day if you have not received salvation by turning over your life to Jesus Christ. Click here to do so.

QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU MEDITATE ON THE WORD:

1. Where might God be confronting my self-reliance rather than my circumstances?
2. What “limp” in my life has become a place of deeper dependence on God?
3. Am I willing to be changed, not just helped, by God?

PRAYER

God of grace, I confess my attachment to strength and control. If You must wound my pride to heal my heart, give me courage to endure it. Teach me to cling to You rather than my own ability. Rename me by Your mercy and lead me forward in humility and trust. I choose obedience over control and faith over fear. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

One-Year Bible Reading Plan

Genesis 37-38; Psalm 23