Genesis 32-36: Alone in the Night

Both of Jacob's encounters with God occurred at night when he was all alone and running scared.  The first encounter was when he was running from his brother Esau and the second was years later when he was going back home and afraid of the response he would receive from Esau.  Both of Jacob's encounters with God also ended in blessing. 

The first time Jacob saw God, when he dreamed of the stairway to heaven, was not as dramatic as the second time when a wrestling match took place and Jacob was left with a permanent limp as a reminder of his struggle with God.  So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
    But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
    The man asked him, “What is your name?”
   “Jacob,” he answered.
    Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
    Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
    But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
    So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”  - Gen. 32:24-30 NIV

It's often in our darkest hours, when we feel most alone, that God appears to us.  We are blessed and often scarred, but these are milestones in our lives that we can name, just as Jacob called his two encounters:  Bethel (House of God) and Peniel, (Face of God). These are the places where we meet God and are forever changed.

2010 post - Genesis 32-36:  What's in a Name?