The Player

The Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau has always been a bit annoying to me. Jacob, whose name means "deceiver," swindles his brother's birthright and blessing from him and then has the gall after he flees from home to wrestle with an angel from God. I have always thought before as I heard this story, "Who in the heck does he think he is--to wrestle with God and then have the nerve to ask for a blessing yet again?" One of the aspects of the story though that I have missed is his persistence in not letting go of God. While Jacob is definitely a player, he is a needy one.

As I think about the many people I have known through the years, many were very close to God until, as the cliche goes, "the going gets rough." It might be an unexpected early death of a loved one, devastating personal financial losses, the breakup of a marriage, or any number of other causes that make us rethink our relationship with God. Jacob, it seems, had a choice to either let go of the angel (God's representative) or to keep hanging on and expecting a blessing to follow. He chose the latter.

I remember a conversation with my daughter after she lived in Los Angeles for three years. She basically came to a point where she agreed with Celie's belief in The Color Purple that, no matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to live without God. It seems there is something to be said for one's tenacity in hanging on to God in spite of the negative events in life. Who knows what blessings may still lie ahead?