One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 68
January 16
6
I will sing to the Lord
because he is good to me.
PROVERBS 3:1618
16
She [Wisdom] offers you long life
in her right hand,
and riches and honor in her left.
58
17
18
She will guide you down delightful
paths;
all her ways are satisfying.
Wisdom is a tree of life to those
who embrace her;
happy are those who hold her
tightly.
Lord, Jesus thanked you for revealing things to the
childlike that clever, calculating people miss. I pray
today that you’ll help Senators and members of Congress
be childlike in the best way: curious, open, and fully
depending on their Father. Amen.
GENESIS 32:13–34:31
Jacob stayed where he was for the
night. Then he selected these gifts
from his possessions to present to
his brother, Esau: 14 200 female goats,
20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,
15 30 female camels with their young,
40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys,
and 10 male donkeys. 16 He divided
these animals into herds and assigned
each to different servants. Then he
told his servants, “Go ahead of me
with the animals, but keep some distance between the herds.”
17 He gave these instructions to the
men leading the first group: “When
my brother, Esau, meets you, he will
ask, ‘Whose servants are you? Where
are you going? Who owns these animals?’ 18 You must reply, ‘They belong
to your servant Jacob, but they are a
gift for his master Esau. Look, he is
coming right behind us.’”
19 Jacob gave the same instructions
to the second and third herdsmen and
to all who followed behind the herds:
“You must say the same thing to Esau
when you meet him. 20 And be sure to
say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right
behind us.’”
Jacob thought, “I will try to appease
him by sending gifts ahead of me.
When I see him in person, perhaps he
will be friendly to me.” 21 So the gifts
were sent on ahead, while Jacob himself spent that night in the camp.
22 During the night Jacob got up and
took his two wives, his two servant
16
JANUARY
wives, and his eleven sons and crossed
the Jabbok River with them. 23 After
taking them to the other side, he sent
over all his possessions.
24 This left Jacob all alone in the
camp, and a man came and wrestled
with him until the dawn began to
break. 25 When the man saw that he
would not win the match, he touched
Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its
socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me
go, for the dawn is breaking!”
But Jacob said, “I will not let you go
unless you bless me.”
27 “What is your name?” the man
asked.
He replied, “Jacob.”
28 “Your name will no longer be
Jacob,” the man told him. “From now
on you will be called Israel,* because
you have fought with God and with
men and have won.”
29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob
said.
“Why do you want to know my
name?” the man replied. Then he
blessed Jacob there.
30 Jacob named the place Pe
ni
el
(which means “face of God”), for he
said, “I have seen God face to face, yet
my life has been spared.” 31 The sun
was rising as Jacob left Peniel,* and
he was limping because of the injury
to his hip. 32 (Even today the people of
Israel don’t eat the tendon near the
hip socket because of what happened
that night when the man strained the
tendon of Jacob’s hip.)
