"Wrestling with God"

Genesis 32:1-23

January 25, 2009

          Have you ever wrestled with God?  What I mean is; have you struggled with God in some way?  Maybe it has been one giant brawl; or perhaps you can say that you've kept your distance from each other - a comfortable civility.  Listen to Jacob's story.

          Last week we met Jacob as he had a God moment at Bethel.  After that encounter with angels he went on to Haran.  He was in his ancestral home yet separated from his parental home by a thousand miles.  He was to seek a wife among his kinfolk.  As was true when Grandpa Abraham's servant sought a good woman for Jacob's dad Isaac, something big happened at a well.  Apparently Jacob was quite a he-man.  He removed a giant stone that covered a well so that a fetching young lady could water her sheep.  It so happened that the beauty was Rachel, a kinswoman and a great candidate for being the wife of Jacob's dreams.  So far so good!

          Rachel took Jacob home to meet her father Laban who was Jacob's mother's brother.  That sounds wonderful but this is the point we find out that the shiftiness we noted in Jacob and Rebekah, might run deep in the family!  Rachel had an older sister named Leah.  Laban requires Jacob to work for him for seven years to gain Rachel's hand.  Then on the wedding night Laban pulls a bait and switch and Jacob wakes up with Leah lying next to him!  Jacob is quite upset!  Laban explains that he must marry off the eldest daughter first - and that he can have Rachel too - for a mere seven years of additional labor. 

          Jacob does this; and bitter rivalry develops between Leah and Rachel - especially with Rachel cannot conceive.  Both women give Jacob their servants to have children and finally Rachel has a son as well.  Before you know it, Jacob's family includes eleven sons!  Things were sure different back then!

          But basic human nature was much the same then as now.  Laban continued to try to cheat Jacob in business; imagine that!  Shifty Jacob got a banquet-sized portion of his own medicine from dear Uncle Laban!  Finally, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel agreed that enough was enough; so they snuck off with their handsome fortune of livestock and headed for Jacob's home.  It's worth noting that God had commanded Jacob to return.  Their circumstances and God's call came together; and God's earlier promises began to jell into reality.

          Laban was alarmed when he saw the significant loss of livestock when he returned.  He was even more incensed when some of his household gods came up missing.  He went off in hot pursuit and caught up with Jacob's caravan.  After a prickly confrontation, a peace was established and a marker (a masebah) was erected on the spot.

          Jacob was free to return to his homeland; and approached the territory of the brother he cheated over twenty years earlier.  Would Esau just forgive and forget?  Let's hear the story of Genesis 32 beginning with verses 1-12.

Genesis 32:1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

 ² When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.

            ³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.⁴ He instructed them: "This is what you are to say to my master Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. ⁵ I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'" 

            ⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him." ⁷ In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸ He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape."

            ⁹ Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ¹² But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"

          Angelic messengers portend a God moment in the making.  In the territory just southwest of the Sea of Galilee Jacob saw God's messengers once again.  His traveling encampment came across an encampment of angels.  The last time he saw angels, he called the place Bethel - the house of God.  This time he called it Mahanaim - or "encampments."  From there Jacob sent out messengers of his own -- peace envoys to his brother Esau.  Had Esau gotten over being conned out of his birthright and blessing?  The reply was more than a little worrying.  He was on the way with four hundred men.

          So Jacob prays in a stressful moment.  I think we can learn from his prayer.  First, there's nothing fancy or poetic about it.  Second, Jacob reviews his walk with God.  Yes, of the Lord course knew all about that, but Jacob needed to say it - and hear it. Jacob remembered how God sent him out with nothing and that he was returning a rich man.  He reflected on all of it and knew he didn't deserve such kindness.  Jacob was a changed man -- not perfect but changed.  Then, he confessed his stress and asked for God's help - ending with a reminder about the promise.

          This prayer is passionate!  It sounds like a conversation; "you said you'd help and you have.  I didn't deserve it but thanks.  Now please help me because what you've promised hasn't come to fulfillment yet!"

          As a preacher on Sunday morning, my version would go like this; Lord God; you promised that your Word would not go out in vain.  Thanks for the way that has been true for me.  Now I'm going to speak your Word and I know I'm not as able and pure as I should be.  But it's 10:45 and time to go - so for the sake of your people and me - inspire this time. You're promised that life is in your Word and we want to be fed. Amen."   What would your prayer look like?

          The story goes on in verses 13-23.

                ¹³ He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.¹⁶ He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds."

            ¹⁷ He instructed the one in the lead: "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?' ¹⁸ then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.'"

            ¹⁹ He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: "You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ And be sure to say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" For he thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me."

            ²¹ So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp. ²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.

          Jacob is dealt with the sins of the past by making amends.  Oh we might see this as calculated bribery, but the fact is; Jacob knew he had offended his brother and he sought to make peace.  The biblical word for this is atonement.  Wrongs are not overlooked in God's world; they are dealt with by honesty and atonement.

          The tension builds!  Jacob divided his family and fortune and sent them across the river for protection.  Only he remained on Esau's side of the river.  A much more mature Jacob waited for destiny -- and a God moment broke out!

²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ 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. ²⁶ Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

            ²⁷ The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. ²⁸ Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."

            ²⁹ Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.

            ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." ³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

          At Bethel it was a stairway to heaven and angels.  Now it's a wrestling match.  Jacob takes on the stature of Arnold Schwarzenegger has he struggles with this man in the night.  Jacob seemed to hold his own - a triumph of the human will; until a single touch to the hip disabled him.  It all reminds me of how far we can go as a human race.  We can build great civilizations and do great wonders - and have them brought to zero with a single virus, natural disaster, or market crash.  We can even bring about our own destruction, can't we?

          But Jacob did not let go!  The day began to dawn and Jacob hung on. "I will not let you go unless you bless me!"  The superior blesses the inferior.  There was more to the man Jacob fought than mere humanity.  This is a God moment!  Jacob is face to face with God -- and will live to tell about it!

          What is your name?  Mom and Dad named him Jacob - "Heel Grabber" or "Shifty."  This wrestler gave him his true name, Israel - "struggles with God."  "You have struggled with God and man and have overcome!"  Apparently there's no true winning without a struggle with God.  The emerging man is given a name that speaks of what Jacob has become - Israel!

          Yes, there was more to this man than strength and leverage!  Israel (aka Jacob) asks for a name.  Nope, this opponent is not bound to give a name unless he wants to.  Then, and on Gods terms, the blessing is given.  It is no longer stolen but received by struggle.  And this place is called Peniel - face of God!

What does it mean to wrestle with God?

          First off, it means having a realistic relationship with our Maker.  We can be done with the play-acting - or false distinctions between sacred and secular. We can get real with God and God will get real with us.  Nothing is without significance or out-of-bounds.

          In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talked about his walk with Christ. Oh there were glorious moments; fantastic and memorable experiences!  But there was also a thorn in his flesh; so Paul wrestled with God.  Paul prayed three times that it would be removed and did not get the satisfaction he sought.  The Lord gave him something more - a denied request brought greater depth!

⁹ 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

          What does that mean to us?  What does it say to any fondness for easy answers and fast resolutions?  God moments might be wrestling matches!  They may well leave us with as much stress and danger as when we began.  But won't we be stronger in what matters?

What does it mean to wrestle with God?

          It means daring to ask why and accepting what reality brings.  It means coming to accept that God is with us in it all.

          When do we dare to ask: "Why this suffering?"

          When do we dare to ask: "Why this undeserved prosperity?"

          When do we dare to ask: "Why do people have to limp?"

          Is it more important to know why or to come to know God?  Coming to know God can become the beginning and the end of our living and prayer.

          It's not about being perfect.  It's about wrestling with God - so God may do a perfecting work in us - as we limp along.