Wrestling And Reconcilliation Series

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,e and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

? Jacob’s getting ready to meet Esau again

We continue on our “From Dust to Life” sermon series on Genesis. Last time pastor Brian covered how Jacob is dealing with his past. Two decades ago Jacob had fled from Esau to Laban, and now he was fleeing from Laban only to be confronted by Esau (and not only Esau, but his 400 men)!

We have to deal with our past too, we’ll have to Face it sooner or later. It might be really scary!

Jacob is afraid, he’s panicking, but then in the middle of the chaos he encounters the Lord.

? Jacob wrestles with the Lord

He has sent his family to a relatively safe place, and now he’s alone. Now he meets the Lord face-to-face, one by one again. It gets very personal.

We know Jacob is pretty stubborn that he was wrestling with all the people that are close to him. And why so? Because he never wanted to lose! And now he meets God in a wrestling session.

And they have a pretty long wrestling session! It goes till the morning! Jacob keeps resisting, until after a very long time the Lord finally dislocates his hip! He struck Jacob’s hip. “The Hebrew for struck is naga’. In many instances it is sufficient to translate it simply as “touch” (Gen. 3:3 being the first instance of meaning “to lay a finger on”).” Why didn’t God just overpower him in the first minute? When you’re training in a wrestling sport or boxing, the trainer lowers down his power so that you can actually train until the trainer needs to show you who the actual master is.

We can be stubborn with God for a long time, we may think we would be fine and there are no serious consequences, but then life happens and something in your life is dislocated. Which is painful. And it’s not that God hated Jacob, but this was the way Jacob could finally be transformed.

In wrestling with God…

? Jacob wrestles with himself

We are constantly wrestling with God, I definitely do!

I wrestle about my faith, my identity, there are times I do not understand God at all..

Often when we’re wrestling with the Lord we’re actually wrestling with ourselves. Jacob could not truly see who he was until he wrestled with God. God gets as close to Jacob as was imaginable, it was personal.

Jacob has to meet himself, having to answer the question of who he is! What is his identity? He’s facing the problems, he’s facing his past, he’s facing everything as Jacob (with all of his cunning and rational human solutions), but God had another plan for him - to become Israel - “to struggle,” or “one who wrestles with God”.

Wrestling is the competition where you cannot use any tricks, it’s either you or your opponent, pure strength.

He shouldn’t run from his problems, his issues, his identity, he needs to face them courageously and figure them out together with his Lord.

If that was me, and I was wrestling, I would be wondering what am I actually wrestling for? Are there people, things seen and unseen that you wrestle with? I wrestle with a lot of things like everyday discipline, faith issues, and understanding difficult people. Am I trying to figure things out in my own strength and wisdom or am I relying on God, we’re all in the same boat. And often we think we’re not the ones who need to change, but in the end of the day:

The way to win is to lose to the Lord.