THE PASTOR’S POINTS
(The view from my garden)
Wrestling with God
Genesis 32:1-27
Of all the mysteries I would like solved before I die, it is the one that says you must struggle if you are going to grow. Growth always means struggle in one form or another.
I struggled when I was a youth, trying to grow physically. I was aided immeasurably by being the younger of two brothers; we were indeed like Jacob and Esau. Every time Thom and I wrestled there was no chance in the universe that I would ever win; Thom was four years older and a foot and a half bigger. It was kind of like wrestling with God – Thom would hold back so I wouldn’t get really hurt, but I was going get “whupped,” no matter what else happened! That may have been one of the reasons I always had trouble believing that David actually beat Goliath!
As part of my childhood physical development, it helped to wrestle with my older brother, because pushing against the “rock and hard place” makes for strong muscles. If you only grapple with a weaker opponent you remain where you are. We all struggle as children, attempting to grow physically, emotionally, and intellectually. We grow when we struggle.
In Genesis 32 we find a man named Jacob who faced a lot of struggles as he grew to be the man God wanted him to be. Jacob left town in great disgrace -- I’m certain it had to be that he "slinked" out of town at night. It is also certain that aside from his mother, no one knew where he was headed. Jacob’s brother Esau was so mad at him that Jacob had to leave town in a hurry – just to survive; Esau swore that he would kill Jacob the next time he saw him.
Twenty years later we catch up with a more mature, but still-struggling Jacob; he is a man on the brink of returning to a home town he’d left long ago. It is a home town of which he is uncertain, a brother, now unknown, and a future fraught with danger and promise. The day before coming home, Jacob meets his future and past at a place called Jabbok…
1Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him; 2and when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called that place Mahanaim. 3Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have lived with Laban as an alien, and stayed until now; 5and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies, 8thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.”
9And 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, and I will do you good,’ 10I am not worthy of the least of all the 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 companies. 11Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. 12Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’”
13So he spent that night there, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16These he delivered into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove.” 17He instructed the foremost, “When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.’” 19He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him, 20and you shall say, ‘Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” 21So the present passed on ahead of him; and he himself spent that night in the camp.
22The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
Genesis 32:1–27 (NRSVA)
Jacob struggled all through his life. God wanted him to be God’s man; Jacob fought it with that old nature that says, Forget what God wants...be your own man! Do what you want to do; Hey, it’s your life isn’t it?
Each of us faces that tension today. There are struggles with relationships, morality, and mortality. We struggle in every area of life. We struggle with why some things must be. Why do I have to take math tests? Why are there mosquitoes? Why does my middle get bigger each passing year? Why does a plane crash? Why do children get kidnapped? What possesses terrorists in London to set off a bomb in a bus and kill 53 people?
Even though we accept struggle as a part of life, we still question its value, its purpose. Along with our questioning, there is one immutable fact that, if accepted at face value, will give our struggling some meaning...
In life’s crucible, God is there!
And He will help you through it all!
Note two PRINCIPLES about wrestling with God in the struggles of life. These principles are seen in the life of Jacob. He is camped at the river Jabbok on the night before he is to confront his brother Esau. Jacob is coming home. He doesn’t know what to expect. It’s been twenty years. This is a time when Jacob could really use a friend to help him.
Principle #1. Get Alone with God
And Jacob said, O God....O Lord…. Ge 32.9a
Note that Jacob prayed, but he didn’t get an answer right away. Jacob had grown accustomed to following God by this time, and he was committed to going back – to doing the right thing. However, this prayer was public. Jacob got no answer until he got in private with the Lord.
Many of us depend too much on the prayers of others, such as the preacher, friend or spouse. God often wants to do something personal in us, and we, like Shakespeare’s weak-kneed would-be lover, want someone else to plead our case. When you’re going to wrestle with the problems of your life it is important to get alone with God. Our text tells us: "And Jacob was left alone…." He sent everyone on ahead so he could be alone!
Principle #2. Get Authentic with God
When we get alone with God, He is then able to speak in that still small voice, asking us the hard questions: God asked Jacob, What is your name? To Jacob, that question meant much more than simply what do people call you? It meant he had to answer God concerning his character.
It is the picture of a man standing before the court. A plea bargain has been reached and the defendant must now allocute; he must say, out loud, what he did wrong…he has to confess his transgressions openly as part of the record.
In Bible times children were often not given a name until their character or nature began emerging. If you recall, Jacob came out of the womb holding-on to his brother, Esau’s heel. That is a picture of one who tries to get ahead by pulling the other guy back; know anyone like that?
Jacob was appropriately named…the name means trickster, cheat, fraud, con man! Here, alone, Jacob was finally able to answer God. Yes, Lord, that’s who I am!
We need to appropriate that kind of honesty with God. Public prayer is general. When you get alone with God all the veneer and outer facades melt away. There is no one there to whom we can lie; and you wouldn’t have the nerve to lie to HIM anyway!
You get alone with God, and you get authentic with God, so you can discover that you don’t have to settle for a superficial relationship with God.
The name Jabbok means to run about and stir up dust. Jacob did a lot of that on that night. It wasn’t a physical battle, but an emotional upheaval. It was a battle within.
In Hosea 12 the same word (Jabbok) is used for prayer and weeping. There was much prayer and weeping that night for God to strip away everything superficial in Jacob’s life. He was doing what we used to call praying through. Jacob was not willing to have a religion full of superficiality – He wanted God!
A Question for Us
What’s authentic about you today? Is it your clothes? Is it the way you comb your hair? Or do you have an authentic relationship with an Almighty God – so honest and open that you will not settle for anything less than Him.
Just one word of caution; when you get alone and authentic with God, the next thing that happens, is change. God will change you. Jacob hung around the whole night waiting for answers. Here is the bottom line about how that played-out with Jacob.
Jacob wrestled all night long with the angel of God (Many theologians believe that was none other than Jesus, the son of God in a pre-incarnate appearance, an epiphany). The dawn was about to break. The ancients believed (and rightly so) that no man can see the face of God and continue living. Jacob knew, as did the Lord, that the morning light would bring Jacob’s death if the angel did not leave. And so the angel told Jacob he’d better let go, or he was toast:
26Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.”
Now look at how Jacob viewed this crisis that was about to affect the rest of his life and eternity:
But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Genesis 32:26, 27 NRSVA
With all the wrestling that night, Jacob wouldn’t give in, even with his life hanging in the balance. He would not let go of God’s presence until he firmly established who God was going to be in his life. Nothing else mattered! And it changed his whole life.
The questions are already in your own mind.
How about me?
Am I ready to do business with God like that?
Do I want God that much?
Am I willing to get alone with Him, get authentic with Him?
If you are willing -- He is willing to meet you there at the place where the dust gets stirred up. And your life -- like Jacob’s is going to be different.
I’m not sure about that……… Neither was Jacob.
I’ve never done that before…..Neither did Jacob.
I don’t see how........................Like Jacob, you don’t have to see beyond your need for God. You only have to see that you need and want Him more than anything else. You need His heart in your heart.
We used to have a hound by the name of Scruffy. She was a mix of Airedale and Terrier (and probably a hundred other breeds). We rescued her from the pound. We had determined to get the one dog nobody else wanted. Our objective was more than achieved; when I first saw her I said, That’s the scruffiest looking hound I’ve ever seen! And so she was named Scruffy.
She was not really a dog. She was Elizabeth’s third child (born before Carrie)!. The mutt ate from the table, slept on Jennifer’s bed, and generally did whatever she wanted. Whenever our family went out, Scruffy would wait right by the door. When that door opened, she would run, dance and jump to celebrate our return. Elizabeth would run for the cabinet, take out a treat, and hold it out for Scruffy. She would always ask, Were you a good girl?
Of course the mutt felt no shame at answering in the affirmative even though she probably had just finished digesting one of my shoes. Were you a good girl? Owwooo!
In 1980 our family was to move to New Orleans to attend Seminary. Pets were not permitted on campus, so we had to find a new home for Scruffy. The family promised to take good care of her, but within two days she ran away. That started a dog-hunt that lasted more than a week.
We cris-crossed Marion County looking for that mongrel. Up and down the city streets of Ocala; out in the suburbs. Once or twice we actually saw her, and one time we got within about 100 feet. However, each time we got close, she would dart away from us as if she didn’t know us. That dog had been in the family for seven years. She was disoriented and frightened from the terrible experience of being lost in the Ocala National Forest during late summer thunderstorms. She’d been chased by irate homeowners, protecting their garbage cans.
For eight days we tried and failed. We agreed to try one more time, and went to a place we’d seen her once before. For two hours we stalked her, coming close on two occasions, only to have her turn and run in terror when we got close.
Then, driving into a small clearing we came face to face with her, less than 15 yards away. Scruffy...fur matted and filthy, head drooping in exhaustion, eyes teary and frightened. A lost soul.
I shut off the engine, and all of us got out, holding our collective breaths. She turned to run and we froze. All except Elizabeth, who dropped to her hands and knees right down in the mud and rain, and (as only a mother would know how) began to softly call to Scruffy,
Are you a good girl? Nothing.
Are you a good girl? The ears perked a little, and she turned around to look at Elizabeth, kneeling down, arms outstretched.
Are you a good girl? Slowly, then more definitely, Scruffy made her way into those waiting arms…and the family reunion was on!
Home is a Good Place!
Scruffy made it home because something from deep within resonated when her Master called. There was a familiar voice, something that called to her from a safe place; it was a calling that promised to fill the emptiness of wandering.
Sin has treated all mankind that way -- disoriented, frightened by what we see, separated from the Father, the Master. The gospel is that familiar chord -- For God so loved the world. Do you hear it? Do you hear the Master’s voice? Will you turn? Will you come home?
My dear friend, you always have two choices with God. Trust Him or don’t. If you want Him as much as Jacob wanted Him, then you only have one choice. Trust Him. Your life will never be the same; thank God!
