Human beings have been battling God’s will ever since the serpent told Eve to take a bite of that apple. You think we would have learned by now that questioning God can land us in a pretty bad predicament.

Just look at Jacob. 

Jacob was deceitful, manipulative, and selfish. He was constantly trying to do things his own way, which had some pretty harmful ramifications. He finally made everyone around him so angry that he couldn’t stay where he was, and he certainly couldn’t go back “home”. A lifetime of bad decisions finally got the best of him, and he found himself in a place of solitude. A depression. 

Up until that point Jacob acknowledged that God was his grandfather’s God. He acknowledged that God was his father’s God, but he never acknowledged that God was his God – until he couldn’t hide any longer. He was there. God was there. They wrestled. He struggled. He finally decided he would do what God wanted him to do. 

In that moment he faced all of his fears. He said farewell to pride and self. He admitted all of his failures, and he finally claimed God as his own. 
And God changed him. 

“We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone” -Genesis 35:3