Chapter 8: The Places Where God Blesses

Chapter 8: The Places where God Blesses 'And he blessed him there.'—Genesis 32:29.

Jacob had asked the angel, 'What is thy name?' He got no answer to that enquiry; in fact, he was gently rebuked. The angel did not come to gratify Jacob's curiosity, but he came as a messenger from God with a blessing.

'And he blessed him there.' There are a great many things we should like to know when we read the Bible, but if we read it so as to find salvation, that will be much better than having our curiosity gratified. When we come to hear a sermon, too, we should like perhaps to meet with some fine passages, or to have some telling anecdotes that we could carry away with us; but if, instead, the Lord's messenger shall give us a blessing from God Himself, it will be infinitely better. The disciples wanted to know from the Saviour something about the times and seasons, but He did not tell it to them. He only told them that they should be filled with the Spirit not many days hence. That was far better, far more valuable to them, and though for the time it might not please them so much, yet, for all practical purposes, it enriched them far more. Angels' names we can afford to leave, but God's blessing we must have, and we cannot do without it. 'He blessed Him there.'

Let us just think for a minute or two what this blessing was which Jacob gained as the result of a night of prayer. I wonder whether anybody here ever spent a night in prayer. Is there a man among us that ever has wrestled with the angel for so long? Alas! I am afraid to put the question and ask for an answer lest I should only gain one through your silence. Brethren, it is not easy to continue for a night in prayer. It has been well observed that it is easier to hear a sermon two hours long than pray for an hour. The more spiritual the exercise the sooner we tire. Joshua was not weary of fighting in the valley, but Moses's hands began to grow weary with holding them up in prayer. Yet surely there have been exigencies in our lives, as in that of Jacob, when a night of prayer would have been becoming. Surely we have been in as great straits and struggles as he, and have needed the benediction of heaven as did that much-tried patriarch. Perhaps it would be well ere long to try this master-feat and wait from sunset to sunrise with God. The old knights, before they took a higher degree of knighthood, spent a night in some church and were supposed to be in prayer. He that shall spend a night in prayer shall win celestial blessings. He shall lie down a Jacob, but he shall rise up a prince. There is a distinct advance from Jacob to Israel, from being a supplanter to being a prince. Prayer gives an incalculable blessing. And this is the advance Jacob gained, an incomparable advance in spiritual things. But besides that, he gained, as the blessing attending that night's prayer, deliverance out of great peril. He thought that he and his would have been slain by Esau, but the angel blessed him and not a single lamb of all his flock was hurt; neither were the women and children put to the slightest fear. Prayer brought down heaven's shield to cover Jacob in the hour of danger.

Again, he got what was better still under some aspects, reconciliation with his brother. He had done his brother grievous wrong, but his brother forgave him, I do not know, but I think a Christian man would almost sooner be exposed to peril than live under a sense of having committed an injustice. It is a great relief to one's mind when you have done so, to find it all set right again. To think 'I did that man a wrong, but it is gone and forgiven for ever,' is a blessing worth praying all night to obtain.

Happy was Jacob also to have the breach healed between himself and his brother, to meet him and fall upon his neck and kiss him; to feel that being so near akin they should no longer be divided in heart. Art thou divided from thy brother? Has any root of bitterness sprung up to trouble thee? Have the friendships of life been curdled by dislike? It were well to have a night of prayer to get them back again and again to serve side by side. I take it to be a vast blessing to a Christian man to be delivered from the temptation to retaliate, to be saved from all hardness of heart and bitterness of spirit. The angel, when he gave him that, blessed him indeed.

Besides all these blessings, in addition to have risen in rank before God, to have had his wrong amended, to having been forgiven by his brother, to being restored to friendship, I do not doubt that from that night a blessing rested upon Jacob's heart, and the dews of that night fertilized his soul for years to come. He was anointed with fresh oil from that moment, and as he rose, halting upon his thigh, he was not merely a better man by title, but better by nature. He had been in a far-off country away with Laban, and so much of the dew had gone from him, but now that he had got back again into Canaan, the angels sealed his return by giving him the blessings of the return. Such were the blessings of Jacob. I should not wonder if there are some here who have said, 'I know in a measure, personally, what those blessings are and wish I enjoyed them to the full.' My prayer, beloved brethren and sisters, is that even to-night God may bless you. According to your necessity may He shape the blessing, but, oh! may He bless you indeed and bless you here.

I am going to speak on this wise. What was the place where Jacob got his blessing? Are there not other such places? And, lastly, may not this be one of them?

I. What was the place where Jacob got his blessing?

First, then, what was the place where Jacob got his blessing, this choice blessing? And the answer comes, first, it was a place of trial, very peculiar trial. He had just got out of Laban's clutches to fall in the way of Esau. He had fled from a lion and now a bear met him, and he feared that his wives and children would be destroyed utterly by his revengeful brother. It was a fearful trial, and the mere fear of it must have left scars on his heart Yet 'He blessed him there.' Is not this a very usual circumstance with the people of God, that their severest trials are the places of their choicest mercies. I remind you how often this has been the case, how Cowper's words have been true:—

'The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercies, and shall break In blessings on your head.'

Believe that for the present trial on which you are perhaps now entering. 'He blessed him there,' there where He tried him. He will bless you there, there where He is trying you, in the waters, in the furnace when thou art refined again and again, and the hot coals are heaped upon thee, He will bless thee there. The disciples feared, we are told, as they entered into the cloud, but it was there that they saw the Saviour transfigured. And often we fear the cloud into which we enter when we are only coming into the secret place of the Most High, where under the shadow of the Almighty we shall have yet more delightful visions of Himself.

If we were wise we should begin to welcome trials. We should rather fear to be without them than not. For up till now what do we not owe to the furnace, to the rod, to the threshing flail? Scarce has a mercy of any great spiritual value come to us at all except by the way of the cross. I am sure I may look upon every choice blessing I have enjoyed as having come to me in rumbling waggons like the good things which came from Egypt to old father Jacob. We have been blessed in places of trial; let us not, therefore, dread to go to such places again, but go on our way towards heaven feeling that whatever difficulty we meet with shall only be another of the spots in which God shall bless us. 'He blessed him there.'

It was also a place of pleading. That is most noteworthy. 'He blessed him there,' where he spent a night in prayer; there where he began a wrestling match with an unknown stranger; there where he would not let him go; there where he held him fast until he gained the benediction. 'He blessed him there.' If you are short of blessings, resort to the place of mighty prayer. All things are open to the man who knows how to pray importunately. 'The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.' Mark you, Jacob's wrestling was no child's play. I have seen painters attempt to depict it, and only now and then have they caught the idea; but one of them represents Jacob as trying most lustily to give his antagonist a back fall, and no doubt he did tax his strength to the utmost till, in the dead of night, he was faint, faint with the toil he had gone through.

Begging must be real work. It is said of begging that it is the worst trade in the world; but a man that is to make anything of prayer must throw his whole soul into it. Your prayers that hardly have life enough in them to live, your words than hang like icicles beneath your tongues, that are scarce heard by yourselves, how think you they will be heard by God? If there is not enough prayer in us to stir our own hearts, how can we expect that God should be moved by our entreaties? There He blessed him, there he prevailed And if you want a blessing you must go in that way. When you get to the state that you will take no denial, that you shall sooner die than not be blessed, you shall get it, for 'There He blessed him.'

Again, in addition to its being a place of trial and a place of pleading, it was a place of communion. Do you recognize it? He called it 'Peniel' or 'the face,' because there he had seen God face to face. O beloved, these are things to feel rather than to speak about To see God! Blessed indeed are the pure in heart when they get this benediction. To come so into union with Christ as to be able to look to God with an eye that is not blinded with fear. Oh! to speak with God, pouring out our hearts before Him, and to hear Him speaking with us, the promise no longer lying like a dead letter on the page, but leaping out of the page, as though instinct with life, as though God had just spoken it and we were hearing it from His divine mouth? Do you know what it means? Can you read Solomon's song and say, 'I understand it?' Is it your experience that you have ever fed on the body and blood of Christ, having His very life in you? If you have, then have you seen God, and it will be said of you, 'He blessed him there.' Brethren, we miss a thousand blessings because we are too busy to commune with God. We are here, there and everywhere, except where we ought to be. We are running to this and to that, instead of sitting with Mary at the Master's feet. He blessed Mary as she sat there, and there, too, will He be sure to bless us. But once more where Jacob got the blessing, it was a place of conscious weakness. The angel touched the sinew in the hollow of his thigh. While he got the blessing he got lameness, too, and he might be well content to carry that lameness to his grave. I have often found the place where I have seen most of my own insignificance, baseness, unbelief and depravity has been the place where I have got a blessing. Did you ever try to preach and fail in the doing of it, and have you not found that God blessed you there? Have you ever tried to be earnest with the Sunday-school children and were earnest, too, but in your own judgment you made a fool of yourself? Have not you found that God blessed you there? Is it not often one of the greatest blessings that can occur to us to be made to think little of yourselves? May not God be enriching us most when He is emptying us and preparing us for the largest possible benediction, when He is making us to see the completeness of our destitution? The most unpleasant places to us in life are often the places where the blessing comes most.

'He blessed him there.' He took the rich man from his palace and made him live in a cottage, but 'He blessed him there.' He took the strong man from his vigour and laid him on a sick bed, but 'He blessed him there.' He brought down the man of full assurance into a state of trembling and anxiety, but 'He blessed him there.' He brought the man of busy usefulness down to be a patient sufferer, unable to stir hand or foot for the Lord he loved so well, but 'He blessed him there.' He took the man of good repute and suffered his character to be evil spoken of, and his good name to be withered, but 'He blessed him there.' Oh! it is often so. We halt with lameness, with shrinking of the sinew, the precious thing wherein our strength did seem to lie, but that may be the very means to a benediction which otherwise we should never have received.

I would encourage, then, each one of you to seek a blessing. I think most of you have been in the house of trial: get a blessing there. The place of pleading, at any rate, is open to you all: get a blessing there. The sacred spot of communion! We may get the blessing there. And I suppose most of you have had your times of humbling and of stripping and getting very low. Oh! may you get a blessing there.

II. There are other places So I turn very briefly to notice that there are other places where Christians get blessings besides the place where Jacob won his.

Beloved, there is a place—(how shall I speak of it?)—where the Lord blessed us. It is of old in eternity. God is so glad to bless His people that He began betimes. 'Betimes' do I say? He began ere time began. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundations of the world. When the decree was given, when the covenant was established, when the election was determined upon, He blessed each one of us there, if indeed we are believers in Jesus.

I might point to a thousand spots all down the line of history, and say that all of us in Christ were blessed there. But I will only linger at the cross and say, Where Jehovah was made a curse for us and suffered in our stead, 'He blessed us there.' And at that open empty tomb, from which escaped the living Saviour whom the bands of death could not hold—He blessed us there. He who died for our transgression, rose again for our justification, and by His resurrection blessed us there. And when he stood on Olivet about to depart, and pronounced the blessing upon His disciples, He blessed us there. And as He ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, from His royal chariot He cast lavishly with His hands ten thousand gifts for the sons of men, which He had received even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them. He blessed us there. And up in heaven, where He sits till His work is done, He points to His wounds and points to our names and reminds the Father of His love to us. He has blessed us there, for He has raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 'He blessed us there.' But as there are places in your own experience, beloved, where He has blessed you, I would take some of you back in your history to the moment when you first knew the Lord. I often try to refresh your memories about that, and I do not think I can do it too often. Where was the spot when you were laden with woes and sins, when you saw Jesus Christ and looked to Him and at once were lightened? Where was it? When was it? Twenty years ago, perhaps; with some of us more than that; with others only two or three years ago; with others of you, perhaps, it is only a week ago. Well, whenever it was, when He led you to see the Saviour, He blessed you there, as you never have been experimentally blessed before. I should not wonder that the day is marked down in your diary, though there is little need it should be, for it is marked on the tablets of your memory, and you will never forget it. O blessed spot, O happy moment, when Jesus first met with me! He blessed me there. Well, since that time have not there been other places where He has blessed you? I might mention every trial you have had and say, He blessed you there. I might mention every benefit you have received, and say, He blessed you there. But time would fail. Only I will remind you that when you have been prompt to obey your Lord and keep close to Him, and have not suffered any cloud to come between you and Him, He has blessed you there. If you have kept up that spirit of obedience take care still to let your eyes be to Him as the eyes of a handmaiden are to her mistress, for, He will bless you there. And have not you found that when you have been most empty and had least self-reliance, He has blessed you there? When you have been very weak and little in your own esteem and ready to die, and felt that you were nothing, and less than nothing, has He not blessed you there. When you have been kept low, without an ambitious thought, down on the very ground before Him, and been afraid to look up from a sense of unworthiness, has not He blessed you there? Oh! keep to the low places then. There is no place like the Valley of Humiliation.

'He that is down, need fear no fall, He that is low, no pride.'

He has blessed you there. It would be difficult for me to say where He has not blessed me. Wherever He has led, wherever He has directed me, seeking His blessing I have found it, and therefore will I bear my witness to His faithfulness. Well, by-and-bye, when your time will come to die, He will bless you there. Before that time you may be a sufferer, He will bless you there. You may lose the dear husband, who now is your strength, or the loved wife who now is your comfort, He will bless you there. You may have to go to the grave with one child after another, and you yourself may be very weak and scarcely have life within you, but He will bless you there. What He has been He will be. If God grew worse, we might doubt, but since He changeth never, and is without shadow of turning, let us look back through the many days since first we met Him and He met us. Remember, we have been upheld till now, and He has helped us in every need.

'After so much mercy past, Will He let us sink at last?'

Now what I am saying is very commonplace, and might suggest itself to anybody here, but at the same time, when we get into trouble, it does not suggest itself, and you have need to be reminded of these simple principles. He blessed you there, and in such place He will again bless you.

One more word about that, and it is this. Has not He often blessed you in the house of prayer? Has He not blessed you in listening to the Gospel? I know He has. Never, therefore, neglect the house of God. Has not He blessed you at the prayer-meeting? Cannot you say, 'He blessed me there?' Well, let us see your face there as often as possible. Has not He blessed you at the communion table? Oh! if there be under heaven an ordinance that is Christ's looking-glass, if there be under heaven a hand that can withdraw the blind and pull up the lattices and let us see the King in His beauty, it is the Lord's Supper. He blessed us there. Let those who despise the table stay away, but those who have got the blessing will wish to be often there, and come again and again, saying, 'Sirs, we would see Jesus.' He blessed us there.

III. Is not this one of the places where we may expect him to bless us?

We have seen where God blessed Jacob, we remember where He blessed us, and now, in the third place, let me ask, is not this one of the places where we may expect him to bless us? Is there a man here who never had a blessing from God to his own knowledge, and who is saying, 'I wish God would bless me, even me?' Are you willing, if God helps you, to give up all your sins? Would you wish to be clean of them and clear of them? Well, soul, if thou desirest that, God will bless thee now. For if thou wouldest be rid of sin, God would wish thee to be rid of them, and so you and He are agreed He will be sure to blot your sins out, and tread them under His feet, through His dear Son Jesus Christ. Do you say you want a blessing? I will put another question to you. Are you willing to have Jesus Christ be your Saviour, not in part, but altogether? Will you let Christ be the first and the last? Will you take Him not to be a make-weight, but a Saviour who can save you from head to foot, who can give His blood to cleanse you, His righteousness to cover you, Himself to be all in all to you? Soul, if thou wilt take a whole Christ He waits to be received of thee. Only trust Him and He is thine. 'To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.'

There was a soul once that wanted Christ, and 'He blessed him there.' There was a soul once that wanted to be rid of sin, and 'He blessed him there.' There was a soul that said, 'Lord, save, or I perish,' and 'He blessed him there.' There was another that said,' God be merciful to me a sinner,' and 'He blessed him there.' There was one that cried to Him, and He did not seem to hear, and at last she came in the press and touched His garment's hem, and He blessed her there. And there was another that He called a dog. 'Yet,' she said, 'the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the Master's table,' and He blessed her there. Oh! anxious, seeking, timid, trembling souls, do trust in Jesus. Rest in Jesus and He will bless you now, and you shall go to your place rejoicing.

There may, perhaps, be here Christians in trouble. Brother, sister, I do not ask you what your trouble is, and I do not want to know, but there is a little text I would like to whisper to you, 'Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.' Will you not trust to Him after that? If so, He will bless you there. Is your trouble and care temporal want? Let me put this into your mouth as a sweet savou, 'Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.' Suck that down and He will bless you there. Oh! what a blessing will come out of the marrow and fatness of that thought! Is there a poor Christian here, who says, 'I feel half ashamed to go to the communion table; I am so unworthy?' Turn your eyes again to the cross. Look to the Saviour for worthiness. You never were worthy, and never will be. He will bless you there. 'I feel so cold and chill,' says another. Think of the Saviour's love to poor, dead, cold sinners such as you are, and He will bless you there. If you are very cold, it is no use thinking of the cold in order to get hot; the best thing is to go to the fire. And if you feel dull and dead, do not try to get better by turning over and examining yourself; fly away to Jesus Christ and He will bless you there. Let all of us now say, 'Dear Lord, meet with us; show us Thy hands and Thy side,' and if we come to His throne in that spirit of desire He will bless us there. The Lord be with us all, for Jesus' sake. Amen.