The Story of God: Wrestling With God
June 11, 2017
Conflict! I hate conflict. In fact, I don’t know anyone who really likes it. So it blows my mind when I run into people who can’t seem to thrive unless they’re locking horns with someone. One of reasons I hate conflict is that I like peace. I like harmony. I like it when everyone gets along. So you can imagine my horror when, years ago, in my very first ministry as a Youth Pastor, my Senior Pastor called me into his office, told me to sit down and then handed me a letter from one of the parents in my ministry. In this letter was a list of about 20 things that they didn’t like about me and my ministry. First of all, I should have never been called into the Senior Pastor’s office. He made a mistake. The first thing he should have done was to ask this parent if he had first come to me with these grievances. That’s the Biblical approach. If someone offends you, you are to first go to them and see if you can make things right. So my Pastor didn’t really do me any favors here. And I was too inexperienced at the time to call him on it. So, I just read the list of grievances. Now most were simply misperceptions that could be easily accounted for. But there were a few things that I had done wrong and I could see how he might offended. So with my strong desire for harmony, I immediately wanted to see if I could make things right. I called him, but he told me he couldn’t meet with me for at least three days. So I was pretty miserable for the next three days. Turns out, that after we met, most of the things on the list were misperceptions, but the areas where I was in the wrong, I immediately took responsibility for them and did my best to make things right. Thankfully, this parent was a good guy and wasn’t out to destroy me. In fact, one of his sons is a Youth Pastor today.
I tell you this story, because living with unresolved conflict is not what God wants for us. Our God is a God of reconciliation. Our God is a peacemaker. That’s why He sent Jesus – to die for our sins, to forgive us so we could be made right with Him. In fact, God wants all of our relationships to be whole and harmonious. But as we return to the story of God today, that’s where we find Jacob. Jacob has just escaped one conflict with Laban and must now face the brother who wanted to kill him. For twenty years, Jacob didn’t have to deal with unresolved conflict because Jacob and Esau had been separated by hundreds of miles. But now on the eve of his return Jacob finds himself struggling with facing this brother who despised him for stealing their father’s blessing. So if you brought your Bible with you today, let me encourage you to find Genesis 32, where we’re going to see that before Jacob resolves his conflict with Esau, he must first wrestle with God.
Now to set the stage for this encounter we need to see what happens along the way. And so we read: Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim. Genesis 32:1-2 Jacob didn’t just run into a couple of angels here. They came to him. Literally an army of angels came and met him as he approached the border to his homeland. This encounter with angels was meant to embolden Jacob, to remind him of God’s protective presence. For if you’ve been following his story, almost every thing Jacob has done up to this point has been done out of fear. Jacob needed courage to face his brother. And these angels were there to remind Jacob that he need not fear, for God was with him.
But at the same time, Jacob now knows that he’s coming Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire He realizes that he can’t just waltz into his homeland and expect to be welcomed with open arms. So even though he’s been reminded that God has his back, in coming back to deal with Esau, he needed to be cautious. He needed to be wise. And so we read, Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’” Genesis 32:3-5
Just a couple of observations here: First, with the words “Your servant,” Jacob is taking the first step in making things right with Esau. He is showing respect to Esau as the firstborn. By telling him he is bringing cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, male and female servants, he is taking another step. He is not boasting of his wealth, he’s telling him that he’s bringing him gifts that are appropriate to one of Esau’s standing. He’s acknowledging Esau as the one who should have had his father’s blessing. He’s trying to make things right. So then we read, When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” Genesis 32:6
Now this is a statement that can be taken one of two ways. Sometimes it means he’s coming out of hostility and sometimes not. But pair that with “four hundred men,” the precise size of a standard militia, Jacob reads into this reply only one thing: Esau is coming to kill him. But what he doesn’t get, is that Esau may simply be coming with 400 men so he can escort him safely back into the land.
So we see that once again, Jacob has a fear issue. That’s his fallback flaw. He still struggles with believing God will help him prevail. So what does Jacob do? We read: In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.” Genesis 32:7-8
Jacob’s propensity to fear leads him to imagine the worst-case scenario. He imagines Esau coming to attack him and destroy his family. So he tries to minimize his losses by dividing his family into two camps. Then after that is done; after letting his fear guide him; after taking matters into his own hands; then, only then does he turn to God for help and prays: “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.”
“Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’” Genesis 32:9-12 This is a great prayer. Jacob, who’s never taken a class on prayer, whose never been taught how to pray, gives us a great model for prayer: He begins by calling on his Covenant God, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me… I will make you prosper.” He calls on the Covenant God who has made a relationship with him. This is good. He calls on the God who has been faithful to him, and promised to bless him…. But then comes his confession: “I am not worthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.” He realizes that God has been gracious to him; that all he has has come from God’s hand. Jacob realizes that God has been faithful to him. He’s always been there for Him. Jacob’s newfound humility just shines through this prayer. Then he asks God to save him and confesses his fear of Jacob, his fear of loosing his family – the promised descendants of God’s blessing… and He trusts God to stay faithful to His promise. This is Jacob’s Covenant Prayer.
Now, if you’re ever looking for a model prayer, this is a good one. Jacob prays out of his relationship with God, the God who is for him. He comes to Him in humility and asks nothing more from God then do what He promises. He gives credit to God for all he has. And he’s honest: He admits his fears to God. Oh that we’d learn to be this honest with God like this: to pour out our fears, our burdens, our doubts – whatever. Jacob literally lays all his burdens at the feet of God. Jacob’s knows he’s come out of the frying pan and into the fire, and only God can rescue him. This is a great prayer… and it’s the kind of prayer God loves to answer.
But He doesn’t answer it …quite yet. There’s still a struggle that lies ahead. God’s not done dealing with Jacob. Jacob still needs to come Out of the Darkness and Into the Light He’s still controlled to much by fear. So we read, He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”
He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”
He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp. Gen. 32:13-21
What an outpouring of generosity. Jacob was giving Esau 550 animals. And Jacob hopes that these gifts will do the trick. He hopes that these gifts will have two effects on his brother. The first effect is that Esau will be pacified. The Hebrew word “pacify” is literally “cover the face” but it’s meaning is this: “I will wipe the anger from his face.” That’s the first thing he hopes will happen. And once that happens, the second effect Jacob is hoping for is that “he will he then receive me.” Literally, “he will lift up my face.” This is a profound word picture, a picture of relational intimacy: for to lift up his face would mean that Esau has accepted his gift and the lifting of his face would mean he is forgiven and they are right with one another again. Harmony in a face-to-face relationship will be restored – they would be reconciled. This was Jacob’s hope.
But, you see, Jacob’s hope is very uncertain. Even though he has prayed; even though he’s hoping that his extravagant gift will make things right, he is still gripped with fear. For the next thing we read is this: That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. Genesis 32:22-23
The Jabbok is significant. The Jabbok will later serve as the boundary of the Promised Land as constituted under Moses. The Jabbok flows into the Jordan River about 20 miles north of the Dead Sea. So this is a significant crossing. Yet it is done under the veil of darkness. And Jacob makes sure everyone gets across but himself. Its night. He has not yet crossed over. And so we read: So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Genesis 32:24-36
Jacob is alone. This is exactly how he stood in the wilderness twenty years ago; fleeing his brothers wrath and running away to Haran with nothing but the clothes on his back. He’s alone once again with no possessions and no protection… And then a man comes to him and picks a fight. There they wrestle all night. And we learn something about Jacob here. Jacob is strong. He’s determined. And nothing’s going to break him. But then something does. The man touches the socket of Jacob’s hip. He dislocates his hip; the wrestler’s pivot of strength and Jacob goes down for the count. For once he is physically broken but he doesn’t give up, he doesn’t quit, he doesn’t let go.
Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
This is Jacob’s Desperate Prayer Jacob, the heal-grabber who wrestled with his own brother in the womb, this deceiver who’s been trying to wrestle his way through all of life has come to the end of his strength, but he holds on to struggle for one last thing: He wants to hear God bless Him. Can’t you just feel his desperation? He’s come to the end of himself, but he won’t let go. He won’t let go of God. This is so beautiful!
The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Jacob, the heal-grabber; Jacob, the deceiver; Jacob; the one who has always looked out for himself; Jacob who has wrestled with God. That’s his identity. This is what God has come to deal with in Jacob. This is what God needed to address in Jacob before Jacob was to face Esau. And now God is about to reorient everything about how Jacob has wrestled with life. And so we read, Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Genesis 32:28
It shall no more be said that you are a deceiver. By struggling with God, you have overcome. And now your sincere and undivided commitment to my blessing will be rewarded. I have given you a new identity. Your faith has changed you to a new man. You are now to be called Israel, the man who prevails with God.
Then Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. Now Jacob’s night of fear is transformed into a morning of hope. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Gen. 32:29-32
What a powerful encounter. Jacob began that night alone in the darkness, but he walks away a new man in the light of dawn. Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed. He met God face-to-face and triumphed. Now he is ready to face his brother Esau. No more fear… No more deceit. He will prevail, for God has blessed him and he finally believes that God is with Him.
This is an amazing picture of how God works. For when we read Jacob’s story, we see God never gave up on Jacob; God always provided for Jacob and was always with Jacob. But it wasn’t until God was all he had left to hold onto, that God changed Jacob.
In some ways we are just like Jacob. We cry out to God to resolve our problems, to rescue us from life’s harsh realities. But what we really need most is for God to change US. And sometimes the only way God can change us is to wrestle with us, to bring us to the end of ourselves, until He is the only one we cling to. So let me ask you…
What are you wrestling with today? Are you mired in unresolved conflict with a friend or family member? Are you wrestling with how God wants to use your life in the days you have left? Are you struggling with hope, fear or sin? What are you wrestling with? Maybe it’s time you wrestled with God and held onto Him alone…
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