One of the great examples of faith in the face of adversity was the life of Jacob. For Luther Jacob in Genesis 32, by his faith, was able to conquer God just as the Canaanite woman was able to cling to Christ when Jesus opposed her (Matthew 15). After the wrestling had eneded, Christ laid aside His mask and spoke life-giving words to Jacob. He reveals Himself as the One who rewards those who persistently seek Him and cling to Him in faith (LW 6:139-140). He is the Man who exercises Jacob until his faith shows itself. As evidence of his faith, Jacob's name is changed by God Himself "because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome" (Genesis 32:28). In this test and in the changing of Jacob's name to Israel, Jesus sought not to destroy Jacob but to confirm and strengthen him in the promises of God. In other words, Christ not only provided the test but also provided the strengh and power to Jacob that he might conquer.

Yet, reminds Luther, the believer's conquering of God is not in such a way that He is subjected to us but that His wrath and judgment are conquered by us through "praying, seeking and knocking" (LW 6:141). He no longer is an angry judge, as He seemed to be, but He becomes a most loving Father, and therefore, your faith has saved you.

Thus, Jacob is a wanderer all of his life yet he is patriarch and a saint. In his sojourns he suffers much, especially with the incest of Reuben, the defilement of Dinah, the death of Rachel and the enslavement of Joseph (LW 8:92).

"For from early youth and ever since Jacob received the blessing, he was disciplined in various ways. He left his father's house because he feared his angry brother Esau, and he lived in exile for twenty whole years. In exile he endured the harshest servitude under his godless and greedy father-in-law Laban. Furthermore, Bilhah, his wife, and Dinah, his daughter, were ravished and Rachel died. Finally his dearly beloved son was sold and carried off to Egypt" (LW 8:92).

Yet God allowed these things to happen so that faith might be exercised and that Jacob would learn to depend on His Word and promises alone despite the visible things perceptible to the senses. "For the things which are discerned with the eyes are deceiving and transient, but the things which are promised and not seen are sure and steadfast. But delay and postponement are to be awaited in faith and borne with equanimity, for the invisible things will appear at the right time (LW 6:305).

In the picture of Jacob's struggle, we also see the struggle of the church of God observed Luther. The church appears to have nothing but the Word and the sacraments yet it has an infinite number of adversaries. To the understanding of the flesh, it appears that the church is rejected by God and that He is hiding from us. In our daily struggles it appears that God has turned His face away from us and shows us only His back so that our conscience is troubled and we wonder as to how we stand before God. But when He addresses us in the Word and the sacraments, we see His goodwill toward us by His words and deeds and then we see His gracious face (LW 6:173).

Therefore, advises Luther, in the darkness of the cross we must cling to the Word of God alone. Yet this knowledge of God does not come without practice and experience as we understand that these struggles are indications of His great love and goodness and not of His wrath and anger (LW 6:151). These things are done by God so that we might learn what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God and be equipped to comfort others in their trials.