我们若明白第一个问题的答案，就该能回答其他三个问题了。主为拯救我们而显现的时候，启示祂自己是荣耀的主；但祂对付我们的时候，却把自己隐蔽起来。每当我们经过一次对付，我们以为这是来自人或环境；我们不认为这是来自主。但是每当对付来到，我们必须领悟是主在那里。藉着雅各的经历我们能领悟，那和我们摔跤者的名字。对姊妹而言，主的名可能是“丈夫，”对弟兄而言，主的名可能是“妻子。”每当我们受对付，起头都不认识这是主的作为。有时我们领悟了，却拒绝承认。我们若真的承认，必然会立刻停止摔跤。所以我们奋斗到底，不肯被征服，反而尽力要征服对方。
现在让我们来看第二和第三个问题。如果主立刻征服了我们，我们怎会被暴露？有人会问：“我已经为我的妻子祷告多年，为甚么主不答应我？为甚么她绝不改变？”答案是你需要被暴露。主和雅各摔跤，为要暴露他是何等的天然。这种暴露至少需要半个晚上。我们也需要长时间的难处。我们很多人仍在摔跤。主想要征服你，但你却争战，要征服你的环境。也许你的妻子是主用来征服你的，但你却运用你的力量要打败她。因此摔跤就延续下去。
雅各有甚么错，使主必须和他摔跤？没有甚么错。主和雅各摔跤，是因他还是那么天然。这里不是对付有罪的事物，乃是对付天然的生命，天然的人。我们需要很长的时间来暴露我们天然的生命。在这以前，我们需要一段很长的摔跤时期。藉着这段摔跤的时期，我们的天然，正像雅各的天然，完全被暴露。我们读创世记三十一、三十二、三十三章时，就看见雅各是何等的天然。他曾受对付，受过很多苦，但在创世记三十二章，他还是天然的。他不信靠主，并且完全不能彰显主。他的表现满了自己。
在这摔跤的晚上，到了一个时候，主将雅各的大腿窝摸了一把。创世记三十二章二十五节说，“那人见自己胜不过他，就将他的大腿窝摸了一把，雅各的大腿窝，正在摔跤的时候就扭了。”主摸了雅各大腿的筋，大腿筋是我们最强的肌肉。主的用意不是要征服雅各，乃是要暴露他。主暴露雅各天然的生命后，就摸了他的大腿，大腿立刻扭了，他就瘸了。正如三十一节所指出，雅各的“大腿就瘸了。”
信息重点：神容许摔跤持续，为要暴露我们天然生命的力量。
应用祷告：主耶稣，求你光照我天然生命中仍然倚靠自己的地方。愿我不再坚持自己，而是甘心接受你的暴露和制作，使我更多经历生命的变化。阿们。
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Jacob’s Experience — Being Broken (3) — Gen. 32:26
If we understand the answer to the first question, we should be able to answer the other three. When the Lord appears for our salvation, He reveals Himself as the glorious Lord; but when He deals with us, He conceals Himself. Every time we pass through a dealing, we think it comes from a person or from our environment; we do not consider that it comes from the Lord. Yet every time a dealing comes, we have to realize that the Lord is there. Through Jacob’s experience we can perceive the name of the one who wrestles with us. For a sister, the Lord’s name may be “husband”; for a brother, the Lord’s name may be “wife”. Whenever we are dealt with, at first we do not recognize that this is the Lord’s work. Sometimes we realize it, yet we refuse to admit it. If we truly admitted it, we would immediately stop wrestling. So instead we struggle to the end, unwilling to be conquered, and rather try with all our might to conquer the other side.
Now let us look at the second and third questions. If the Lord had conquered us immediately, how would we be exposed? Someone may ask, “I have prayed for my wife for years — why doesn’t the Lord answer me? Why does she never change?” The answer is that you need to be exposed. The Lord wrestled with Jacob in order to expose how natural he still was. This kind of exposure requires at least half a night. We too need a long period of difficulty. Many of us are still wrestling. The Lord wants to conquer you, but instead you fight, trying to conquer your environment. Perhaps your wife is the one the Lord is using to conquer you, but you use your strength to try to defeat her instead. As a result, the wrestling continues on.
What was Jacob’s fault, that the Lord had to wrestle with him? There was no fault. The Lord wrestled with Jacob because Jacob was still so natural. This is not a dealing with something sinful; it is a dealing with the natural life, the natural man. We need a long time to expose our natural life. Before this can happen, we need a long period of wrestling. Through this period of wrestling, our natural being, just like Jacob’s, is fully exposed. As we read Genesis chapter 31, 32 and 33, we see how natural Jacob still was. He had already been dealt with and had suffered much, yet in Genesis 32 he was still natural. He did not trust in the Lord, and he was completely unable to express Him. His conduct was full of himself.
On the night of this wrestling, at a certain point, the Lord touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh. Genesis 32:25 says, “When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.” The Lord touched the tendon of Jacob’s thigh, the strongest muscle in our body. The Lord’s intention was not to conquer Jacob, but to expose him. After the Lord exposed Jacob’s natural life, He touched his thigh; it was immediately dislocated, and he became lame. As verse 31 indicates, Jacob’s “thigh was disjointed.”
Message Main Points: God allowed the wrestling to continue in order to expose the strength of our natural life.
Daily Prayer: Lord Jesus, shine into the places in my natural life where I still rely on myself. May I no longer insist on my own way, but willingly accept Your exposure and Your making, that I may experience more of the transformation of life. Amen.