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Pursuing God | Tenacity in Seeking Blessing

Pursuing God | Tenacity in Seeking Blessing

Last updated on: August 7, 2025 at 12:01 pm by Rev. Jared V. Ingle

Pursuing God | Tenacity in Seeking Blessing 2025-08-07T12:01:22-04:00 Rev. Jared V. Ingle

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Then there are the times I need to chase down my blessing.

And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
Genesis 32.26

This form of the word bless is a root word meaning to bless, sometimes to kneel. It is a common term, used over 300 times in the Hebrew Bible alone.

giving God freedom for blessing

Jacob is asking the man (divine being) to bless him. He isn’t asking for a specific blessing. Perhaps there are more blessings available to me if I don’t ask specifically for what I want at any given moment.

Now I can almost hear our Lord at times say, “You keep asking for that because that is what you think you need, but I am waiting to give you this over here.”

I often ask amiss.

I often ask the wrong question.

Sometimes I need to give my question to God and ask Him if I can ask the right question.

There are some who are always asking the wrong questions.

Name it and claim it!

Blab it and grab it!

They use their words to try to manifest specific blessings.

Their questions are often wrong. Just because they ask God for something specific does not mean God intends that something specifically for them.

Jacob asks the right question. He does not ask for a specific blessing. He knows who he is wrestling with. Any blessing will be the right blessing. He is giving God the freedom to bless.

pursuing the Spirit for blessing

Jacob is not specific in what he asks. Jacob is specific in what he does.

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Genesis 32.24

Chasing a blessing is hard. Jacob had to leave everybody behind, or actually put everybody in front of him.

Sometimes I have to leave the comfort I am used to. My religion lines up with my way of thinking. Sometimes I have to get out of line because the blessing is not tied to my line. I have to chase it at the expense of leaving those I am comfortable with. I have to chase it alone.

Sometimes it seems like the blessing dodges and weaves, like it doesn’t want to be caught. But I have to keep my focus because I know it is of God.

Eventually, I catch up with it and tackle it, or wrestle it to the ground like Jacob.

There is a pursuit of God at times.

holding on

Once I have apprehended that for which I am apprehended…

Once I have caught up with what God is doing in my life…

And once I have entered that space where it is clearly me and the Spirit…

I simply do not want to let go!

I want to hold on until I receive the blessing I am seeking, whatever that blessing may be.

It doesn’t happen this way every time, but it does happen enough.

Jacob could have wrestled with a Theophany.

I often do not know what I am holding onto. I might be surprised when the Spirit becomes the aggressor.

The divine man spoke a blessing over Jacob, changing his name to Israel. This was a shift in identity.

Maybe the Spirit wants to shift some things around in my life. Maybe the Spirit wants to do some work on my very identity.

Like Jacob, I do not know what the blessing is.

Like Jacob I hold on until I receive the blessing.

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