Introduction

Good morning to you all! I am so excited about the passage this morning mostly because it is one of those really obscure passages.  The first time you read this one you are left scratching your head and honestly wondering what just happened.  These are the passages that really excite me because they give us a chance to stretch our understanding and we must know that the truth hidden here must be really good because our God buried this treasure better than most.  I am talking about Genesis, Chapter 32, verses 22-32.  In these passages we will see that Jacob finds himself in a wrestling match with our Lord himself.  Or maybe it was just a man, I guess you will have to stick around and find out.  

If it was God that Jacob was wrestling with in our passage what does it mean that Jacob is physically wrestling with God?  Or even more puzzling, why would God wrestle with Jacob? Is this passage meant to only be taken spiritually as though this wrestling match was only taking place in his heart, mind and soul?  But what about his injured hip and his limp?  If this is just a spiritual battle then how does he come away with a disjointed hip? So many good questions to consider with the passage and again, we shouldn’t let those questions worry us.  I pray they excite you because there is so much truth and clarity that God is delivering to us through this wrestling match.  

As always though, with these passages, we need to be careful to stick to the context and what the original readers would have taken from it because if we just dump this into our modern context we are inevitably going to come up with all kinds of weird stuff which I mentioned a few weeks ago when we were covering Jacob’s ladder vision.  Even though this is a shorter text to read we have a lot to get to this morning so please stand with me as we read Genesis 32: 22-32

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. 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. 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.” 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. 

The Sin of Self-Sufficiency

Why is it such a virtue in our culture to be self-sufficient?   We talked about it a little during our time in Ecclesiastes, but the man who considers himself to be self-made or self-sufficient is the man living in vanity.  Despite that, making a name for oneself, it seems, is the chief aim of life, at least in western culture.  It is not enough to simply glorify God and enjoy him, we need to make a name, we need to be self-made.  

It is for this reason, as we mentioned on Wednesday, that Jesus says it is nearly impossible for a rich man to get into heaven.  Not because money or material blessing is in itself bad, but because of the autonomy that such wealth brings.  There is little to no dependence on God and always leads to disordered loves.  The one who has, often feels self-made and self-sufficient and is blinded to their faults on account of their success.  

Consider the prosperity gospel preaching mega churches that are increasingly popular who have taken it upon themselves to devise all manner of ways to grow their churches and increase their giving.  “Look at how much God is blessing us,” they say.  Is he though? Or have you just become self-made and self-sufficient and have no need of the way in which God provides.  In such instances these remarkable buildings look fantastic from the outside but upon closer inspection one would find they are built with hay and straw and would not stand for a minute if hit with a gust of wind or a single spark.  All of our work is tested with fire, the self-made stuff will burn.  

The saddest part about it is that many who think that all their self-made, self-sufficient doing is going to get them into the kingdom of God.  

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7: 21-23

This is the position that Jacob finds himself in to begin our story this morning.  Jacob has to this point been a self-made man.  He has been true to his namesake, Jacob, the heel-grabber. Every chance he has had to date, he has grabbed at heels.  Coerced his brother to grab the birthright, tricked his father to grab the blessing, neglected prayer to grab the girl he wanted, and tricked Laban to get back at him and grab material wealth.  When we get to this point in the story, despite the promised blessing that God has given him which clearly had nothing to do with the inherent or earned righteousness of Jacob, everything he has was self-made (so he thought).  Jacob was a self-sufficient, heel grabber.  

Do you see that this morning? It is very important that you do because Jacob, or you for that matter, can only be corrected upon the realization that there is indeed a problem to be corrected.  It is rather easy to see the problems with Jacob but maybe not so much with us.  Self-sufficiency wears many faces, I pray, however painful or revealing it might be, that the Lord breaks us of these this morning.  

Striving with God

Speaking of painful breaking, let’s now turn our attention to Jacob wrestling with this man.  Before we get there though I want to demonstrate that Jacob approaches this situation as an already broken man.  The disjointed hip that he receives in this encounter is only the physical manifestation of already realized internal reality.  We skipped past it but I want to go back a little and read from Genesis, chapter 32.  This is the prayer of Jacob immediately following the message given to him that his brother Esau is coming to meet him and has with him a group of 400 men.  

9 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,’ 10 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. 11 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. 12 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.’ ”

We have thoroughly established that Jacob has been to this point, at least in his eyes, self-sufficient. He has made a number of choices that have put him at odds with his brother and put him in difficult situations and very seldom has he thanked God for what He has done for him and even more seldom has he prayed and asked God to guide him and lead him. This is possibly the first time that Jacob has intentionally prayed asking God for guidance, at least it’s the first time recorded for us in scripture.   That of course all changes when he is faced with the proposition that his brother with 400 men has finally caught up with him.  

This is very common in all our lives.  We all tend to rock along in our wills, making our own decisions, rarely consulting God and his will.  Rarely do we cry out to him for guidance that he would reveal to us his character that we may act according to his desires and plans for us until what? Until our situation becomes so dire that we are forced to.  We generally live how we want until we can’t any longer.  This was certainly the case with Jacob and his prayer is very instructive for us.  

One, he prays and reminds the Lord of his promises.  Not for God’s benefit, as though he has forgotten them but for himself to remind himself of the promises that God has made to him so that he may be comforted in the reality of those promises.  We see the same thing many times throughout the Psalms. Two, he confesses his unworthiness and dependence on God through the realization that everything he has was not his doing but God’s. “I came across this river with only a staff and look what I have now become.” By this point, as we have read, Jacob has 2 wives, 2 servants, 11 children, hundreds of goats, ewes, rams, camels, cows, and donkeys.  He is blessed and prosperous far beyond his actions. 

In the face of possible death and the potential threat to his family he is broken to the degree where he confesses his unworthiness and his dependence upon God.   This is his disposition as he enters into this wrestling match with this mysterious man. So as we read, Jacob sends his family ahead of him, possibly to put some distance between he and them in case things go south with his brother.  It was then that a man showed up and began to wrestle with him.  Imagine this scene.  It’s dark, you have just sent your family away and you are alone.  You are already on edge and restless, fearing for your life and seemingly out of nowhere you are attacked by a man and are literally wrestling for your life.  

We can only assume that he had to initially think this was Esau, or someone connected with Esau, trying to catch him off guard in the night, right? When I was thinking through this my thoughts went to confusion as to how Jacob could not have at least had some idea as to who he was striving with.  Could he really not see anything? Modern people, having grown up their whole lives with electricity, have very little concept of utter darkness.  Even here in the country we still have light pollution everywhere but try to imagine a world with no lights.  For the people of this day, if the moon had not yet risen and if there were some clouds in the sky, you wouldn’t be able to see your hand in front of your face.  So it is not at all unreasonable that Jacob could have been totally taken by surprise here and that he would have no idea who he is wrestling with.  

So he struggles with this man through the night and just before the day breaks this man touches his hip socket and puts it out of joint.  Interesting power that this man has, that he is able to touch a hip socket and put it out of joint but that is exactly what happens.  Many times the girls, more so when they were younger, would try to arm wrestle me and it’s always a little humorous watching them struggle, red faced trying to move my arm a little and I usually pretend for a second that they might have me before I bring my arm back to the center. That little dance would continue through the night if one of us didn’t just finally give up and let the other win.  This is very much the picture I get imagining Jacob wrestling with God.  

The Lord, just touches his hip and puts it out of joint, we are not to even consider that Jacob was actually putting up a fight against the Lord but rather the Lord was allowing him to fight with him for a very specific reason.  The reason why God allows Jacob to strive and all of us to strive against him is to break down our self-sufficiency so that we fully rely on God.  Why is it easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.  It’s not about money, the issue is relying on God or relying on self.  God does not allow his children to continue in independence, self-righteousness, and self-sufficiency.   He forces you, against your will to strive with him, that he may break you of these sins, so that you would rely solely on him.  

Consider the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians: 

 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Strength then, true strength comes not from self-sufficiency or personal strength but from dependency on God.  Whose strength do you want? Your own or Christ’s given to you in your weakness? How often do we depend on our own strength when the word of God says no when you are weak then you are strong because then it is not you striving but Christ in you.  This is the lesson that Jacob had to learn and it ultimately took a full on wrestling match to get there.  In Jacob’s defense, as I have pointed out, his heart was already primed for this lesson through his hardships which was evident in his prayer.  

God’s Mercy & a New Name

So we will look lastly at the result of this wrestling match.  The first of which is a confession of sorts from Jacob to the Lord.  The Lord makes Jacob give his name but there is much more here than Jacob simply confessing his name.  Remember back with Adam, we talked about the significance of names and the identity that names carry for us.  For God to make Jacob give his name is really God making Jacob confess his identity.  Who was Jacob? He was a heel grabber.  A self-sufficient, self-made, independent, heel grabber who acted on account of his own desires and then figured the rest out later.  There was such shame and guilt tied to his name, his reputation and his past, all his mistakes and failures were all wrapped up in Jacob.  

How often have so many of us wished we could be disconnected from the sins of our past and be given a new identity and a new name.  This is precisely what is offered to us when we strive with God.  Jacob was given a new name, Israel, and with it a new identity, one who has striven with God a prevailed.   Jacob is not the selfish, heel grabber anymore he is Israel, one who struggles with God.   As Jacob learned, this striving, that is putting off the old self and putting on the new is not easy work but it is necessary work. 

Hear the words of Paul from Colossians 3: 

 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

The mercy of God meets us in our striving against ourselves and against man and forces us to strive against him so that we may be defined not by our old self, but by the new identity that he graciously gives us.  He forces us to rely on him alone and in doing so transforms us into people with compassionate hearts, kind, humble, meek, and patient.  We are forgiving people because of how great we have been forgiven and loving people because of how great we have been loved.  This is certainly how Israel would have read this text and the message they would have received was to fully depend on God and not on self.  

Conclusion

Let’s consider a couple applications as we close.  First, we receive God and more specifically his kingdom and promises not by our own strength or cunning but only by his grace.  This is something that Jacob had to learn and something that the vast majority of people still need to learn.  Again, we are programmed from an early age that you define your destiny.  That you are what you make for yourself.  That you define truth for yourself, goodness for yourself, and happiness for yourself.  These are lies.  God defines all these things and we only find them when we struggle with him and receive the name that he has prepared for us.  

How do we receive this identity and name? In Luke, chapter 18, Jesus gives us the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, which is a familiar parable about the humble way in which we receive justification and I want to read the end of that story and the narrative immediately following as they are connected and informative.  Luke 18: 14

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

How much independence and autonomy does an infant have? An infant can’t be left alone for more than a couple hours without some kind of attention and care.  They are fully dependent on their parents.  Christ says that this is the only way we enter the kingdom.  As babes in the arms of our father.  If we rely solely on him for everything I think we will see our prayer transformed, our obedience and holiness transformed, our lives transformed, and our churches transformed.  Rely on him. 

Finally, God graciously gives us reminders of our dependence on him.  

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. 

Not only was Jacob limping when he went away from his encounter which served as a reminder of the power and mercy of God but also the people remembered in their culture and practice.  Paul had a thorn and thankfully and hopefully, as strange as that sounds, each of us have some scar or limp that serves as a constant reminder to us of our constant dependence on God.  Do not curse God because of your thorns these are graces that should always remind us that “His grace is sufficient for you.” In our weakness his power is displayed.  When we are weak, only then are we strong. 

We must also not neglect those God ordained signs of remembrance nor should we neglect creating cultural habits that remind us corporately to rely on God.  We take the supper every week to point us to Christ and to remember how much we rely on him.  This is the most obvious thing we do but there are many more mostly forgotten commands and traditions like fasting, corporate prayer, and family worship.  In general we have created cultures of self-reliance as opposed to God reliance and I am just as guilty as everyone, but I long for the day that even the food we eat serves as a constant reminder of our dependence on God.  Can we begin to reclaim that now, and find remembrance and meaning and joy in everything we do? By the grace of God, and in our striving with him, I think we can.  I think we must.  May it please the Lord to make us like infants in his care, fully dependent on him and remind us of this everyday.  Amen.  

Bibliography

Greidanus, Sidney. 2007. Preaching Christ from Genesis: Foundations for Expository Sermons. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.