Jacob: Struggling With God

When my kids were younger we had a fun game we would play called Buzz and Zurg. I would get down on my knees and the kids would be on the other side of the floor and I would say “I am your father” they would yell “NOOOO!” and come attack me and we would wrestle. There were times I would let them think they were tackling me down, yet never was I really struggling until mom would come and help them. I think it is good, for boys especially, to have a father they can wrestle with. They learned multiple things too:

Dad was strong

Dad was safe

They learned their own limits

When was the last time you wrestled or struggled with your Heavenly Father?

Have you ever wrestled in your heart and mind with God as to how much you trust Him?

You find yourself praying to God then stepping back into fear and worry after saying amen!

In today’s passage Jacob will do just that… spiritually speaking he has been wrestling with God for some time now. JACOB’S PAST IS CATCHING UP WITH HIM!

Jacob is heading back as God instructed

Esau is there waiting… (he wanted him dead last he saw him)

There is a verse EVERY follower of Jesus Christ should commit to memory… 2 Timothy 1:7

2 Timothy 1:7 NLT

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

God’s Assurance

The verse begs the question… If God is not giving us fear, WHO is giving us that fear!!!

God here understands that Jacob is approaching a situation that can allow fear to come into his life. GOD IS PREVENTIVE in His actions with Jacob… Genesis 32:1-2

Genesis 32:1–2 NASB95

Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

How amazing is God to do this for Jacob!

Jacob is now aware that God is with him… the camp of the army of God is with him!

God is saying Jacob do not fear!!!

Read the WORD OF GOD and you will see scattered on the pages His assurance to you and I we are not to fear!!!

But like Peter in the storm we take our eyes off Christ and look at the waves

Faith Crowded by Fear

In Genesis 32:3-5 we see Jacob forget who he is… there is a lack of trusting God, in fact we see more of Jacob striving to please man!

Genesis 32:3–5 NASB95

Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”

Jacob and his family are moving slowly yet the messengers are quick to deliver the message and return… Their return and information evokes fear Genesis 32:6-8

Genesis 32:6–8 NASB95

The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies; for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

I appreciate the advice D.L Moody gave once…

Be Authentic (1. Beholding (Gen. 32:1–8))

A lady said to evangelist D.L. Moody, “I’ve found a wonderful verse to help me overcome fear”; and she quoted Psalm 56:3 : “When I am afraid I will trust in you” (NASB). “I can give you a better promise,” said Moody, and he quoted Isaiah 12:2: “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; “ (NASB).

“Greatly afraid AND distressed”… Fer evokes panic, panic causes us to do things, say things without thinking!

God is a God of order, NOT chaos!

NOTICE: Fear is developing the worst case scenario n Jacob’s mind!

When we have un-dealt with sin in our lives… FEAR IS PRESENT

A guilty conscience sees things the darkest

We find Jacob scheme, his old go to, rather than trust here and remember the angelic camp with him… BUT we must praise him for also going to the Lord in prayer, and this is a powerful prayer. Genesis 32:9-12… YET IT WAS PRAYED BY A WEAK MAN...

Genesis 32:9–12 NASB95

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 relatives, and I will prosper you,’ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. “For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’ ”

Sometimes we cry out to God and like the father who came to Jesus we cry out Mark 9:24 ...“I do believe; help my unbelief.””

Jacob has grown close… even intimate to this God he prayed to

Recalling God’s covenant and promises

Understanding who he was and God was

Being real with God, “I fear him”

Concern for loved ones

You and I can pray powerful prayers… what we do afterwards reveals how much we trust the One we pray to…we believe to be scripture the saying “God helps those who help themselves”… NOOO God helps those who Cannot help themselves!!!

Jacob develops a scheme to deliver a gift over 550 animals

They will be delivered in groups and waves

They will go before the people and family

Jacob send all this ahead and then has his family cross the river AT NIGHT!!!

Fear makes us do things that are not logical

The narrative finds Jacob alone… this is when and where God meets up with Jacob… Genesis 32:24-32

Genesis 32:24–32 NASB95

Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

God Fights!!!

The God you and I serve is a passionate fierce God… words do not do justice describing the passionate way He will pursue mankind!

God pursues US!!!!

This came at night… hard to see clearly

This was a long hard struggle

It was very physical, yet very spiritual as well!

GOD WILL PREVAIL!!! He is the stronger One

“What is your name”

Names had meaning and definition

Jacob had to come to face who he was...

Jacob: heal grabber/deceiver/schemer

are you gong to continue to live this way?

“Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel”

there is a change here occuring, a new beginning

your past will not define you moving forward

Israel: “one who wrestles with God” or “God strives or fights”

Israel would continue to struggle with God, God would also continue to fight for Israel

G. Campbell Morgan called Jacob’s experience “the crippling that crowns” and interpreted “Israel” to mean “a God-mastered man.” 3 Wiersbe, W. W. (1997). Be authentic (p. 59). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.

God continues to fight for for you and I, and mankind still struggles and wrestles with God…

His greatest victory was at Calvary. There He would take on Sin and Death and RISE VICTORIOUS!

Moving Forward

Jacob would move forward… Genesis 33 records his meeting with his brother...

God had worked in Esau’s heart as well

We must remember that you and I are not the only ones God is working with

Jacob does not do things perfect… in fact we see some pretty severe blunders

Our faith is a walk, it needs to get stronger, God is still working

Jacob is clear to Esau that it is God who has blessed him!

Wisely Jacob puts distance between Esau and himself but the way he goes about it is neither good nor trusting of God

Wiersbe states this: Jacob’s strength was in his limp, for it was a constant reminder that God had conquered him and he could trust the Lord to see him through. Had Jacob limped, his brother would have noticed it and asked the cause; and that would have been Jacob’s golden opportunity to tell him what God had done for him. Wiersbe, W. W. (1997). Be authentic (p. 61). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.

You and I need to be bold about allowing the world around us to know that we do struggle, but we do not fear because GOD HAS WON! It is His victory that allows us to moved forward.

Let’s declare to the world that we have a God who passionately fights for you and I !!!!