When We Wrestle With God
History of the Messiah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
**David arm wrestling story**
But what about wrestling with God? Has anyone here ever done than before? Have you ever pitted your self-will, or pride, or plan against God, grappling with Him for control? Today, we’re going to talk about that, and what it means when we wrestle with God.
Sermon series slide
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.
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.”
The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
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.
Big Idea: We must be emptied of ourselves to be filled with Jesus
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
The quicker we admit that it’s only when we’re properly emptied of ourselves that God can fill us up, the better off we are. God does not want us to live in our own strength, but in His. Today, we’re going to see just how this plays out in Jacob’s life as we examine the story of Jacob and His encounter with God.
Intro to Jacob’s life
Intro to Jacob’s life
In order for us to properly understand why this moment in Jacob’s life is so significant, we have to go back in time to Gen 25. As we saw last week, God has established His covenant with Abraham. God will be with Abraham. Through Abraham God is going to create a nation for Himself and give them land to dwell in. Abraham is asked to lay it all on the altar, and in so doing sees the promise secured for his son Isaac.
Now, moving ahead, Isaac married Rebekah, his cousin. This leads us to Gen 25, where we read in Gen 25:19-20
These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac,
and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.
God eventually blessed this couple with two sons: Esau the older and Jacob the younger. Twin boys. But notice this:
The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”
Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
Heel-grabber - that is what Jacob means. Heel grabber, or deceiver. And so it was. As we track Jacob’s story down through the chapters of Genesis, we see him tricking his older brother Esau into selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. The birthright was the first-born son’s blessing from his father. As the next in line to head up the family, the oldest got a double portion of inheritance. Yet Esau sold his for stew. Moreover, when Isaac grew old and the time came for said blessing, Rebekah Jacob’s mother helped Jacob deceive Isaac into blessing Jacob, instead of Esau. Thus the struggle between the brothers became deadly, with Esau wanting to kill his brother. So Jacob fled.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
He headed far north to Paddam-Aram, and Harran. This is where the rest of the family of Abraham still resided. There Jacob met the stunning Rachel and her older sister Leah. Jacob agreed to work 7 years for Rachel’s hand in marriage, yet when the time came, he himself was tricked into marrying the older sister Leah. Jacob then worked yet another 7 years to actually marry Rachel too. Thus struggle and deception characterize the relationship between Jacob and his father-in-law Laban. So much so that Jacob was crafty with Laban, breeding Laban’s flocks in such a way as to get rich for himself. He then further - when he saw that favor with Laban had gone south - deceived Laban and fled. Laban eventually caught up with him and things were set straight. As you can see, deception and struggle were Jacob’s M.O.
After leaving Laban and Harran, Jacob travelled back south, toward Esau and his family. Keep in mind, 11 years earlier Esau was ready to murder his brother. Had anything changed? Perhaps there would be a way to outwit his brother once again. So he sent a gift to his brother to placate him, and this was the response:
And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.”
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,
thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”
Esau sends no message back - just a non-verbal promise: “I’m coming with 400 men.” Uh oh…
This leads us up to our passage in Scripture. A point in Jacob’s life where he is faced with a match he probably can’t win. He’s in over his head. It is here that we see changes in Jacob’s life taking place, for his response is no longer crafty or deceptive. In fact it is now the response of a heart softening to God.
And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’
I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.
But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”
Jacob comes to the God of His fathers, now asking for protection. He is dreading the outcome of this encounter, and in over his head. We now see a turning to God that does not characterize his life before this. Circumstances force him to his knees.
The Big Moment
The Big Moment
So we come to our moment:
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.
He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.
And Jacob was left alone.
Jacob takes his whole household and puts them on the other side of the river, and then crosses back himself to the southern side. And the Bible says he is left alone.
Alone in the dark of night, we then read:
And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
Wow! that’s quite a match. Clearly this mystery man and Jacob have immense stamina as they grapple throughout the night. But as the dawn begins to break, the man does something:
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.
In a power move, our mystery fighter touches or strikes Jacob’s hip, putting it out of joint.
Has anyone here ever seen a moment in the movies where someone dislocates their shoulder. No one ever seems to look super thrilled by that. Most often, they cry out in intense pain! Why? Because the joint has been violently ripped apart. Can you imagine the pain of a hip being wrenched out of joint?
Clearly this move could have, and by all accounts should have, ended the match. But it doesn’t
Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man tells Jacob to let him go, for daylight is coming. This is an important detail. Jacob though stubbornly clings on, saying that this mystery person must bless him first. What is a blessing?
Blessing: Divine act in favor of the one being blessed. - Logos Bible Software
Jacob is asking this mystery one to act in favor of him. To bless him and bestow goodness upon him. Why would he ask for that? Clearly Jacob has learned something about this stranger that is not immediately obvious - namely, the he is wrestling with God!
This is not the first time God has appeared, even in human form, to humanity. We call these theophanies: an appearance of God to humans. Here, it is God himself who shows up to wrestle with Jacob, limiting Himself throughout the night during their match. Finally, as the day breaks the deciding blow is given. Yet Jacob hangs on asking for blessing.
And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
Now God asks Jacob something important. We need to pay attention to this moment because something amazing is about to happen. He says “What is your name?” In this timeframe, to have someone’s name was to have a certain amount of power over that person.
The knowing of a name implied a relationship between parties in which power to do harm or good was in force.
Now, Jacob’s name must be known. Now there is an establishing of a relationship. Often today a name means whatever you identify yourself as on your Canadian documents. Yet whether we realize it or not, we often associate names with things.
A number of years ago my parents, siblings and I took a trip to the UK. The first time we flew with Air Transat. The second with KLM. Air Transat served this food that to this day makes my stomach roil. Oh it smelled so bad! So every time I hear “Air Transat” I associate it with bad food and an uncomfortable airplane. Name association can be powerful!
It works that way with people too! Think about it, have you ever thought of a name and thought “I’d never name my kid that!” Why? It’s possible you just don’t like that name. Or you don’t like what it means. It’s also possible you had a bad experience with someone with that name in the past and have come to associate that name negatively.
Remember what Jacob means? “Heel grabber,” “deceiver.” This is the Jacob we know, and he has done a bang-up job of living up to this name. Now the man (who is really God) asks him “What is your name.” This isn’t like giving your name to the Doc at your yearly physical. In this moment Jacob must confess his true nature: I am Jacob, deceiver, heel grabber. Jacob is confessing who he is. This is his identity.
Stop and consider: What is your identity: I am ______ the… There will probably be good and bad things you associate with your name. Jacob’s sin defined him. Jacob’s deceitful nature defined him. Have you ever felt like that? I am ______, the liar, the cheat, the lustful, the envier, etc.
I am Jacob, the deceiver. What is God’s response?
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.”
In one critical moment with Jacob, God says “no longer.” No longer are you Jacob the deceiver, but now you are Israel.
The name Israel is a combination of two words: the first part pointing toward the idea of fighting. The second - el - meaning God. It can either mean: “God strives (or fights),” or “He strives (fights) with God.”
Both seem to apply here, for Jacob has fought with man and God all his life. Yes, he is the bearer of blessing, but he has grappled and snatched at it all his life. Always pushing, always cunning and scheming. Moreover, Jacob has fought, first with Esau, then Laban to gain the upper hand. It would seem this wrestling with God throughout the night shows us a picture of Jacob’s life - he wrestles with God. And yet, God also fights for Jacob, for now Jacob has been placed in a spot of being at the end of himself. Body broken, plan exhausted, Jacob is now at God’s mercy. Yet it is God who says “God fights” for you.
How is it then that Jacob could have fought with men and God and still won? It doesn’t really seem like much victory when Jacob is the one with a dislocated hip! The victory though is that God now fights for him. That is the promise in this new name that God gives. Now God fights for him and his descendants. That is the victory.
Yet Jacob is not quite done.
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.
Jacob tries to get a bit of an edge on his combatant, but God makes it clear that will not happen. Instead, there Jacob received the blessing, and rather abruptly the fight ends.
See the beauty in this moment. Jacob came out of the womb just after his brother, grasping his heel. Growing up, I wouldn’t be surprised to find there was resentment. Esau, the oldest probably by mere minutes, receives the blessing! So Jacob tricks Esau into selling the firstborn blessing. Then he tricks his father into blessing him over his older brother. Did Jacob obtain blessing? Clearly, for as he had prayed earlier: what?
Yet always striving, always working the angle. Now, without “earning it” so to speak, God gives him blessing. Jacob didn’t earn it, he didn’t scheme for it. God in His favor and mercy gives it to Jacob. Can we sit in this for a moment? Now it is his; an unbreakable promise.
Epilogue
Epilogue
So our story ends:
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.”
The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
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.
Peniel reflect two names. Panim, and el, meaning God. Together this word means “face of God.” If we have any doubts about who it was that Jacob fought that night, this statement makes it clear: I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. Pulling from other parts of Scripture, we know that no one can actually see the face of God and live. God tells Moses up on the mountain:
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
So how did Jacob get away with it? Remember it was dark? Jacob does not get a full revelation of the face of God, but a mirky glimpse. but it’s enough. Jacob understand who it was that he met that night. Now, he names the place “the face of God” and passed by there as he limped home. Now this physical reminder would always be with him - that he had fought with God, and lost yet won. This limp would remind him that his natural strength had been limited by the Lord. Yet now, God fights for him. Instead of outwitting his brother, he had met his match and then some in God. Now he would forever know that his destiny, his life, and his family were in God’s hands. (Cornerstone)
Genesis Wrestling with a “Man” (32:1–32)
After a lifetime of struggle, Jacob finally surrendered to God. He became a changed man—converted, we would say—and a worthy custodian of God’s covenant promises.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Big Idea: We must be emptied of ourselves to be filled with Jesus
Today we met Jacob, grandson of the promise bearer Abraham. Deceiver turned desperate fighter, Jacob wrestles with not just man but God in an encounter that forever changes his life. His name - heel grabber, deceiver - is changed to Israel: he who fights with God, yet he whom God fights for. At the end of himself, plan exhausted and seeming enemies closing in, Jacob has an encounter with God that forever changes his life.
So how does this fit into our great rescue plan of God? Well, certainly the fact that to Jacob is given the same promise as Abraham received. Jacob in fact is the last patriarch before his twelve sons begin to build the twelve tribes of, you guessed it, Israel - God’s people and the nation whose course we will chart through the rest of the OT.
Yet there is a question before us now. Have you come to the end of yourself yet? I think there’s two ways to get there - fast, or slow. Either you can realize “fighting with God is a losing battle. God fighting for me is a winning battle.” or you can do as Jacob did and grapple with God and man much of his life. He constantly tried to plan snatch and control, right up until he couldn’t. His everything was exhausted. Even his own strength, broken by the One who is greater than us all. Coming to the end of himself - and left with a permanent reminder of God’s power to fight with and for him, Jacob now limps through his days. Yet he experiences the blessing of the Lord in this.
So where are you today? The entire OT points to Christ, who was given for you. Here’s the truth:
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
A sinner is someone who does wrong and breaks God’s moral law. All of us were once sinners. Here’s the thing, while we were grappling with God, fighting for control, saying we knew better and going our own way, Christ died for us. This is what Isa 53:6 says:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The story of Jacob points us to the Savior and our own wrestlings with God. Wrestling with God is actually an important thing in our lives, but there must come a point where either we put away our pride and self-will, or God will empty us of it. Because when we are emptied of our own self ambition, pride, and will, God can finally use us for His purposes and plan. It’s not until you say “ok God, you get control” that we experience living in relationship with the Father. That’s salvation right there. Choosing to come and submit to God, repenting and confessing your sin, trusting in Christ’s sacrifice alone, and giving Him your life. When you do that, that’s when God says “Ok” and something extra ordinary happens.
Maybe you’ve already done that. Yet the temptation to go back to an “in my own strength” kind of mentality sets in. We need God to continually break this pattern in our lives and replace it with a “in His strength, in His will” mentality.
So let’s make space for God to speak: How is God speaking to you today about these things?
Space for encounter.
OUTLINE (Flows as one thought)
Introduction to Jacob’s life
Intro to this moment (22-24a)
The wrestling match (24b-25)
The name change (26-29)
Israel walks back (30-32)
Christ connection:
