The other morning as I walked early with Lucy, I came upon this scene.
A verse came to mind from a Charles Wesley hymn taken from Genesis 32:24-32, "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown."
Jacob wrestled with a man all night. At dawn, the man touched Jacob’s hip socket, but Jacob still would not release the man. “But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’” (vs. 26).
The man said, “…Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome” (vs.28).
When Jacob asked the man’s name, he answered, “Why do you ask my name? Then he blessed him there” (vs.29).
Wesley’s conclusion to the story goes this way:
Tis Love? ‘tis Love! Thou diedst for me, I hear thy whisper in my heart.
The morning breaks, the shadows flee, pure, Universal Love thou art.
To me, to all, thy mercies move; thy nature and thy name is Love.
To me, to all, thy mercies move; thy nature and thy name is Love.
At dawn, Jacob received a new name. At dawn, God blessed him. At dawn, Jacob knew the God of love.
May you meet God in the morning as the one who imparts your identity,the one who blesses you and who, in Wesley’s words, reveals himself as the one whose nature and name is Love.
To read more of the fourteen verses of this hymn, click here.
Jacob wrestled with a man all night. At dawn, the man touched Jacob’s hip socket, but Jacob still would not release the man. “But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’” (vs. 26).
The man said, “…Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome” (vs.28).
When Jacob asked the man’s name, he answered, “Why do you ask my name? Then he blessed him there” (vs.29).
Wesley’s conclusion to the story goes this way:
Tis Love? ‘tis Love! Thou diedst for me, I hear thy whisper in my heart.
The morning breaks, the shadows flee, pure, Universal Love thou art.
To me, to all, thy mercies move; thy nature and thy name is Love.
To me, to all, thy mercies move; thy nature and thy name is Love.
At dawn, Jacob received a new name. At dawn, God blessed him. At dawn, Jacob knew the God of love.
May you meet God in the morning as the one who imparts your identity,the one who blesses you and who, in Wesley’s words, reveals himself as the one whose nature and name is Love.
To read more of the fourteen verses of this hymn, click here.