Rumble At The River

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So I used to love Combat sports, if you know me you know that combats sports were a big part of my life.

One of the coolest fights I have ever been to was for a guy I helped with his fight camp by sparing with him a few times.

describe the fight, and how it ended

It was such an amazing fight and that fight was the catalyst to get him into the UFC it forever changed his life

Today we are going to talk about another fight in the Bible that changed not only one man’s life but changed everyone’s life

Genesis 32:22–32 NIV

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. 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. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 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.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 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. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

So the seen starts out with Jacob sending everyone away

he sent across the stream

He was alone

he had nothing and no one

a man shows up

and they wrestle until day break

then He touched Jacobs hip

Jacob would not let go until he got a blessing

Jacob got a new name

So this takes place right before Jacob meets his brother

you know the brother that he took the blessing and the birth right from

by the context of this passage I would guess that Jacob was not in a good head space, being all alone, with nothing

Have you been there?

there is something weighing you down

Something that you feel so worried about

something that seems like such a big deal

Maybe this weight is

an addiction

maybe a need for control

maybe depression

maybe gossip

maybe bitterness

like you just don’t have joy anymore

maybe its something that you and only you know about

Maybe You have been wrestling the wrong way, you know trying to do things your own way and on your own power

See it wasn’t until Jacob was humbled by an injury that his demeanor changed that the story changes

HE cling to God and begged basiclly for a blessing

Jacob struggled and God acknowledged that struggle and blessed him

Are you struggling right now?

Maybe you are struggling with God

maybe you don’t even realize you are struggling with God

so many times our struggle presents itself as something else

Like

an addiction

control

depression

gossip

bitterness

But its really a struggle we are having witch God and its time to start doing a bit of a different kind of wrestling

It’s time we start wrestling on our knees in prayer

Greg Laurie wrote this

90    Prayer isn’t getting your way in heaven; it’s getting God’s way on earth.

Greg Laurie

Wrestling with God (2003)

Greg Laurie

Man it’s not about getting our way, if that is our prayer we are missing the point

If we are trying to get God to do things our way we are not submitting to His will

You know the prayer, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, thy kingdom come, THY WILL BE DONE.

If we are holding onto our struggles and our pride that we can do it on our own we will fail

We NEED to cling to God, and trust Him and give Him our struggles

Quit sweating, quit wrestling. It is not TRY but TRUST.

John G. Lake

How do we do this, How do we give God these things?

We Need To Acknowledge Our Sins and Struggles

1 John 1:9 NIV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

If we hide from our sins and struggles how can we allow God to work in our lives?

Psalm 32:5 NIV

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

David wrote “did not cover up” we need to allow God to work and forgive us of our sins

Greg Laurie again for his book Wrestling with God writes,

120    No matter how intense or fervent or long your prayers may be, if you have unconfessed sin in your life, your prayers are really going nowhere.

Greg Laurie

Wrestling with God (2003)

Greg Laurie

This is the first step WE NEED to confess to God and then we can move on to step 2

We Need To Be In Fervent Prayer

Psalm 63:1 NIV

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

This is how we should be seeking God

So my question for you is this

Are you far from God?

Maybe you didn’t even realize that you were

maybe you are just so used to being far from God that you are just on autopilot

If thats you, today its time to let it go

its time to thirst for him like you are in a desert with no water

During this song its time to make things right

if you want prayer during this time come up

Communion

Jesus when He was wrestling this is how He handled it He prayed

Matthew 26:36–39 NIV

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus prayed as the hour came for Him to sacrifice Himself for our sins

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NIV

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.