Turning Point

Struggling with God

Without knowing all of your stories, without full disclosure of the details of your lives, if you are doing your best to live a surrendered life that is now pleasing to God, I believe it is safe to say that you are doing so because at some juncture in life, at some crossroad, in some predicament or situation, you experienced a turning point.

Perhaps you were living a self-destructing lifestyle, perhaps you were looking for love in all the wrong places, perhaps you were gambling away your time, your talents, and your monetary treasures, perhaps you were marginally spiritual, casually Christian, on the fence when it comes to faith, perhaps you had no faith at all, but something happened that caused you to reconsider what was going on in your life. You started thinking about the choices you made, the path you were walking down, and the consequences of your decisions, and somewhere between what is and what use to be, between regret and regrouping, between disappointment and determination, between embarrassment and encouragement there was a turning point.

Like in the bible, maybe you were like the woman at the well trying to quench an inner thirst through multiple relationships, maybe you were like that prodigal son who wasted all his money on loose living and ended up in a literal pig pen, maybe you were like a man named Zacchaeus who had who was tired of living a life of thievery, or just maybe you were like the man in the bible who had some faith, but still struggled with unbelief, or just maybe you are one of those who got sick and tire of being sick and tired and all of your personal, inner, external frustrations got you to your turning point.

No matter who we are in this room, we have had or we will have a moment when we experience a turning point in life.

That is where we are here in the passage of scripture I just read. A brother named Jacob is have a rough way to go, in fact he’s had a rough few years, at least 14 to 15 years of lies and deception, trickery and treachery, family drama and family deceit. For about 14 to 15 years of so, this brother has been experiencing some crazy all because of his participation to steal something from his own flesh and blood.

If you don’t know the story, Jacob is the twin brother to one named Esau. They were fraternal twin boys. The story says that these boys were so competitive until they were wrestling in their mother’s womb. When they were born, Esau was born first but Jacob came out of the birth canal with his hand still holding on to this brother’s heel. They were some contentious brothers.

And yet, there was a distinction between the two. Esau was an outdoors kind of person who liked to hunt, to be adventurous, to kill rabbits, squirrels, deer, and all kinds of wild animals for food. He was a person of the wild so much so that the smell of the wild was on him. However, Jacob was more of the Mamma’s boy who hung around the house. He developed a unique way around the kitchen. He was a chef par excellence. Now to be clear, both of these brothers could cook, both knew how to prepare food, but Jacob was a “Chef de Cuisine.”

And it would be that special gift of making food taste irresistibly succulent that would cause him to manipulate his brother and his father, taking both his brother’s birthright, and stealing his brother’s final blessing from the deathbed of their father Isaac. Jacob was a trickster, a cheater, a schemer, and his tactics would set the stage for nearly 20 years of payback as he soon learns that there is always one more manipulative than you.

After Jacob pulls the last trick and steals his brother’s blessing from his dying father by pretending to be Esau, he fears for his life and flees to the home of his mother’s brother, Laban. It’s been 14 years at least, because that’s how long he had to work to get his wife, Rachel, but obviously it was longer than that, perhaps even 20 years, I’ not sure. But what I am certain of is that no matter how long you run from what you’ve done, you cannot escape the consequences of your actions, and sooner or later you are going to have to face that thing you’ve been running from.

For Jacob, that time has come. According to chapter 31, Laban’s attitude had changed towards Jacob, and God spoke to Jacob and told his it was time to return back to his father’s house and to his family, with the promise that God would be with him. Jacob is now tired of his uncle Laban’s shenanigans and he realizes that he has been getting back what he gave to his brother Esau, because old Uncle Laban was a professional trickster inflicting the same kind of deception on Jacob that Esau had received. So, he takes his wives, Rachael and Leah, the daughters of Laban, and their children, servants, and some of the treasures from the house and they leave during the night.

But secondly, Jacob also knew that it was time for him to face his brother Esau and knowing full well the risk involved in returning back to the scene of the crime, Jacob made up his mind to go back home and own his stuff repent to his brother. While on the way, he takes his wives and his children and he sends them ahead hoping that if his brother intends to do him harm, that he would at least show mercy to the women and children. So he makes several trips crossing the stream at Jabbok, taking his wives, children, maidservants, butlers, gifts and treasures, all to appease his brother’s anger.

And once he had done all of that, verse 24 says, “Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestles with him until daybreak.” When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, the bible says, he struck him in the socket of his thigh and dislocated his thigh. And then the man said to Jacob, let me go, to which Jacob, “I’m not going to let you go until you bless me.” The man asked him a question: What is your name? Jacob, he stated. And then the man said, you shall no longer be called Jacob, but you shall be called Israel, for you have wrestled/ struggled with God and with man, and has prevailed.”

When I consider the entire storyline associated with this text, it is clear to me that turning points don’t just happen, sometimes God will use a series of events, or an array of circumstances to lead you to a turning point. No matter the events, no matter the number of tragedies, the let downs, the attacks, or whatever you may call it, it is clear that a turning point does not happen until you are left alone! (Alone)

Jacob was alone when this man started to wrestle with him. He has made several trips across the Jabbok stream, he was emotionally exhausted, mentally drained, physically tired and alone. But it was there in his aloneness that this man finally had access to Jacob. Now for the sake of time, the general belief was that this was not an ordinary man, but it is was an angelic being of some kind. Many believe this to be what we call a “Theophani” or an OT appearance of Christ. Why, for one, he had power to change Jacob’s name, secondly, he had power to bless, and thirdly, in his explanation of what Israel meant, “he gives us a clue to perhaps who he is by saying, “I’m changing your name to Israel because you have wrestled with God and with man, and has prevailed.” Jacob then names that place, Peniel, and said, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been spared.”

Truth of the matter is that most people experience a turning point in their lives when they have a one on one encounter with God. God is always trying to speak. God is always trying to get our attention, but there are too many distractions, too many things vying for our attention, and the only way God we can hear from God is when God catches us alone. Jacob was alone when he wrestled with God. Elisha was alone when he heard God speak in a still small voice. Moses was alone when the Lord said, I Am that I Am. David was alone when God revealed God’s self as the Great Shepherd. Solomon was alone when God told him to ask what you want and I’ll give it to you. Jeremiah was alone when God spoke to him and told him that while you were in your mother’s womb I knew you and ordain you to be a prophet, Mary was alone when the angel told her she found favor, Jesus was alone in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, “Not my will, but thy will be done. Paul was alone when he received revelations he couldn’t speak of, and the apostle John was alone in the Spirit on the Lord’s day when God touched him.

And even today, some of you are wondering why it is that you are alone. You are popular, intelligent, miss congeniality, at the top of your game, yet alone! You are fine and fabulous, handsome and debonair yet alone, wealthy and wise, yet alone, big baller and shot caller, but yet you find yourself alone.

Could it be that God is wrestling with you! That’s my second point. A real turning point happens when you wrestle with God. The bible says, a man wrestled with Jacob until daybreak. That means all night long, Jacob was in a constant state of quarreling, struggling, tossing and turning, holds and takedowns, full-nelsons and half-nelsons, but the man could not pin him, couldn’t defeat him, couldn’t prevail against him. Was Jacob too strong for this angelic being? Was Jacob too much for even a heavenly being to subdue?

I don’t believe Jacob was too strong or too much for this angelic being, but I do believe Jacob had a strong stubborn will that needed to be broken. Let’s face it. It’s not that God lacks the ability to change, it’s not that God lacks the power to change us, God knows how to change, deliver, to shift things around on our behalf, the problems is not whether or not God can do it, the problem is whether or not we are able to say not my will but thy will be done! Maybe we need to say, take my heart and mold it, take my mind, transform it, take my will, conform it to yours. I submit to you that Jacob had a strong will that needed to be broken.

But I also suggest to you that even before the man started wrestling with Jacob, Jacob was already wrestling with himself! For nearly 20 years of his life, he wrestled with the guilt and shame of his decisions, wrestled with the payback his uncle was dishing out to him, wrestled with the fear that gripped his heart and mind at the thought of facing his brother Esau. He was wrestling with himself. He felt like a failure, felt used, felt defeated, felt cheated, felt taken advantaged of, felt disrespected, felt dejected and rejected, felt the stain of his sin, and his inner wrestling also became apart of his spiritual wrestling.

I don’t know who I’m talking to this morning, but somebody in here is not only wrestling with God, but you are wrestling with yourself. There is a battle going on within your soul and you are living with inner anguish and turmoil. God has forgiven you, but you won’t forgive yourself, Gods got grace for you but you won’t accept it, you are beating yourself up, you are speaking negativity to yourself, you are reminding yourself of every failure, every defeat, every thing shameful and wrong, and you won’t let go of the things God is ready to break out of. God’s got the key to unlock your shackles and instead of embracing God’s best for your life, you are wrestling within yourself.

And the bible says, when the man/angelic being saw that he could not prevail against Jacob, he struck a blow to his hip’s socket and dislocated his hip, and told Jacob, “let me go, the day is breaking, to which Jacob said, “I’m not going to let you go until you bless me.”

But I’d like to suggest that the reason why Jacob held on tight is because Jacob didn’t see this encounter as a wrestling match, but perhaps Jacob felt that for the first time in his life he felt something and he experienced something he’d been longing for since his childhood, and that was a real embrace. In fact, the Interpreters Bible Commentary suggest that the same Hebrew word used for “wrestle” is also the word used for “embrace” suggesting that this was not the kind of wrestling match where an opponent is defeated and the other one wins. Instead, this was an opportunity for Jacob to finally realize what it felt like to be in the arms on one who could truly change his life.

I believe that Jacob knew something about this man the same way this man knew something about Jacob. Jacob knew that this encounter was significant, was divine, was prophetic, was life-altering, in fact, that perhaps in this moment, he had a chance to get a legitimate blessing as opposed to stealing a blessing, so much so that when the man said, “let me go, Jacob said, “I’m not going to let you go until you blessed me!” The last time I got blessed, I lied, I stole, I tricked my father, I pretended to be somebody else, and I had not had my own encounter with the divine. So, even with a dislocated hip, I won’t let go until you bless me.

Which leads me to my last thought, a turning point comes in your life when you experience some kind of brokenness. Jacob was hurting, he was in pain, and yet he contended, I won’t let go…and I can attest that some of my closest walk with God are in my brokenness, my earnest prayers, my deepest meditations, my greatest longing, my greatest satisfaction, my greatest joys, my unparalleled peace, highest heights, best lessons, strongest testimonies, highest praise, for when I’m weak, I’m strong, poor, rich, in my weakness, his strength is perfected in me...

And when you have the right kind of turning point, God will change your name. The man said, what is your name, Jacob! You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with man, and you have prevailed, you won! You see names have significance, names speak of your character, disposition, qualities, sometime of your future. By stating his name, Jacob was admitting to being a liar, a trickster, and a manipulator. But what I like about God, is no matter who you are, no matter your past, no matter your present situation, if you wrestle with God, God will change your name and by that I mean, God will redefine who you are and what you can be.

Your name is Israel because you have wrestled with God and with man, and you’ve won! You’ve prevailed! Which leads me to this question? How do you win a wrestling match with God? You simply hold on until God blesses you, don’t let go, don’t stop praying, don’t stop believing, don’t stop hoping, trusting, hold on to your faith, hope, trust, peace, don’t let go until God blesses you!

And when God blesses you, you’ll be able to say, my name is blessed, favored, victory, healed, delivered, set free,