Genesis 32:22-32 - You have to rely on God - God opposes self-sufficiency

“Let’s pray until Graceland is ready for you.”

Big Idea: You have to rely on God

Context

Since leaving the Promised Land, he has become a self-made man.

He deceived his uncle Laban, and left his land without telling him and took all his riches with him.

He outsmarts Laban and becomes massively rich.

Jacob is preparing to return to the Promise Land and encounter his brother, Esau.

It’s been years since the two saw one another, and Esau wanted to kill Jacob.

The last time he saw his brother, he had stolen Esau’s blessing by deceiving their blind dad, Isaac.

Jacob has sent droves of animals and messengers to Esau as a peace offering in order to find favor with his brother.

The messengers came back and said Esau is coming with 400 men to meet him.

This throws Jacob into an anxious fit, pleading with the Lord to uphold his promise to do him good despite his unworthiness.

Now, it’s night time and he has sent his final drove of gifts before he goes to Esau.

Stand to read

Genesis 32:22–24 ESV

22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

This is a perplexing passage for many theologians.

This is an event within an event.

Isaac sends Jacob out of the Promised Land in Genesis 28, and now after many years, he’s coming back.

God met him at Bethel as he left the Promised Land in the dream of the ladder

God promised to be with him wherever he goes and to bring him back to the Promised Land.

Now, God is going to reveal that he will bring him back to the Promised Land

Before Jacob can go into the Promised Land to encounter Esau, he has another meeting

Jacob has sent everything he owns ahead of him.

He’s sitting alone reflecting on the past and worried about this encounter he is about to have with Esau.

He’s contemplating what’s about to happened when he’s suddenly grabbed by a strong hand.

Esau was not the least of Jacob’s worries because now, he’s in a full fight.

There’s this sudden encounter with “a man” (v. 24b)

*Where did he come from?* He’s silent and nameless.

Jacob was alone, then next thing he knows he’s wrestling with a stranger in the dark.

Jacob’s no sissy.

He wrestled with his brother in the womb in Genesis 25

He fought with his dad in Genesis 27

He’d been fighting with his father in law from Genesis 29-31

He has been fighting his entire life.

He’s doing jiu jitsu in the dark with this stranger for hours.

Genesis 32:25 ESV

25 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.

He wounds Jacob in a way that he would carry for the rest of his life.

This is a major blow to a strong, self-reliant man.

Jacob single-handedly moved a large stone from the mouth of the well to impress a pretty girl.

There are men we’re convinced are superman’s cousin.

The one’s that can do anything better than anyone else.

My dad is the guy right now that can do anything.

Poppy walked on water.

One of the saddest images is a strong, stubborn man who has to submit to the limits of his age.

Up to this point, Jacob has relied on himself for everything he has.

He’s relied on lying and deceiving in order to be blessed.

He’s relied on his mobility.

In order to be what God has planned for him, there must be a transformation in his life.

He now walks with a limp.

He wont be about to trick or outrun Esau this time.

Transition

We are so much like Jacob.

We want to be independent.

We want things to go our way

We want to be the hero.

But now, what Jacob is learning and what we should take from this is:

Church,

1. We can’t rely on ourselves.

We have a tendency to think that our way of doing things is better than God’s way of doing things.

If we can rely on our own knowledge and our own wisdom, then things will go our way.

Sure, you almost failed the 8th grade and graduated with a 2.4 GPA, but surely your plans outweigh the eternal, all-knowing God of the universe.

My son is crazy smart. He knows L from R (I didn’t learn that until I was 13).

He’s a great backseat driver.

On our way to Venessa’s house.

“Is this the way?” “Are you sure?”

He’s usually pretty good at his underwear though, because we recite a mantra: “Tag in the back.”

The other day, I walk in to check on him during a nap.

I notice that his underwear is on not only inside out, but also backwards.

This is the same kid that tells me I’m going the wrong way when I’m driving in the car.

We make such crummy gods for our lives.

No one has lied to you more than you have.

Somehow we have convinced ourselves that we make a better ruler of our life than God, who gives life.

We have deceived ourselves and believed the lie that God doesn’t care about us, and if He did then our lives would be much better than they are.

We sought to rely on our own independence, our own strength.

When we rely on ourselves, our lives begin to trickle down a slippery slope into self-reliance, self-absorption, and self-worship.

Jacob has functionally lived this way.

Deceiving his way into blessings and places of honor.

This is the first time that Jacob doesn’t trick his way into a blessing.

Transition.

Jacob realizes that whoever he is wrestling with is a force of importance.

Blessings were a major part of culture back then.

Now we pass them out when someone sneezes.

At that time, blessings were a sign of favor for wellbeing.

Divine blessings were massively valued in the hearts of the people.

Now Jacob is demanding for a blessing from this stranger.

Genesis 32:26–27 ESV

26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

Then comes a turning point in the narrative.

Jacob’s hip has been dislocated, but like I said, Jacob is no sissy.

He laches hold and will not let go.

Genesis 32:28–32 ESV

28 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.” 29 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. 30 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.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Jacob now knows who he has been wrestling with.

He has been physically wrestling with God.

This is a “theophany,” or a physical appearance of God to man.

A preincarnate Christ has appeared to Jacob to significantly transform his life.

No longer will he be known as “Jacob” which means deceiver

His name will now be “Israel” which means “Strives with God.”

Before he can reenter the Promised Land, God changes him from self-sufficient Jacob into Israel, a person who strives with God for his blessing.

This event serves as a parable for what God’s relationship with the people of Israel would be throughout the rest of the Old Testament.

God’s people will be continually striving with the Lord for blessing.

The people of Israel never obtained favor on their own

It was always based on God’s unmerited favor of them.

Moses tells them this to remind them that God will not allow self-sufficient people to enter the Promised Land, but only those who rely on God.

Church, what we need to see is:

2. We must recognize our only hope is God.

What this shows us about God is that He opposes self-sufficiency.

Jacob cannot enter the Promised Land without God’s blessing.

God had to change his name and character to Israel—a person who relies on God.

The only way for God to establish His people and for Israel to be in God’s presence is to simply rely on God.

Jacob had to be changed, and so do we.

Our only hope for change is the power of God.

In ourselves, we’re hopeless.

Me must rely on our only hope, Jesus Christ.

If you’re not a Christian, I’m speaking directly to you.

Gospel presentation

We were created in God’s image.

In our self-sufficiency, we rebelled against God’s good design and plan for our lives.

We deserve to be separated from God’s presence forever.

We deserve His wrath.

Jacob was a deceiver, a liar, a trickster.

But like Jacob, God didn’t take His presence from us.

He moved toward us.

He sent His Son, who took to Himself a human flesh

Jesus lived perfectly according to God’s will

Jesus laid down His life on a cross to pay for your self-destructive nature and sin.

Then God raised Him from the dead to give us hope!

Hope of redemption through His blood!

Hope of resurrection!

Hope of eternal life!

Guys, our only hope is God!

You must stop relying on yourself and rely on the finished work of Jesus.

The only way for us to be changed is by believing in Jesus Christ for salvation and taking one new step of faith toward Him.

Take the Next Step

Read Genesis 33-36.

(Humbly) Remind yourself: “I can’t rely on ourselves, I must rely on God.”

Trust in Jesus

Help someone (who’s struggling) to rely on the Lord.

Tell them of what the Lord has done in your life.

Pray with them.

Very few people turns down the offer of prayer.

Perhaps that’s your today. I want to give you the opportunity to respond to the gospel and give up self-reliance and rely on the Lord.

COMMUNION

Invitation to receive, repent, and respond