Wrestling Match Gen 32:22-31
I know a church where they teach that the Old Testament has nothing to do with us, that we shouldn’t bother with it. I disagree. One of the ministers I studied under used to say the Old Testament is Jesus concealed and the New Testament is Jesus revealed.
Obviously the New Testament is Jesus revealed, the four Gospels are his life story. When I work in the Old Testament I look to see how the people and their stories explain Jesus and God’s salvation. The story of Joseph is a description of Jesus life, Noah describes salvation for believers at the end of time in the true ark of God; Jesus. Rahab and the scarlet rope show how the blood of the Passover covers all people, Jewish and Gentile who believe in Christ. And the account of the servant who is pierced by a metal awl at the doorpost as a sign of love for his master shows us Jesus was nailed to a cross due to his love of the Father in heaven and his love for us.
These stories and accounts show us God’s plan but I think they also show us how God interacts with mankind as a whole and each of us as an individual. It’s that that I want to examine this morning.
When I was a teenager my dad and I used to watch wrestling. He even took me to a few when they used to come to Kingston and Poughkeepsie. I remember Ivan Putski, Chief Jay Strongbow, the Junkyard Dog, and Gorilla Monsoon. Sorry, I got lost for a moment there. Anyway, as I was looking through the Old Testament for something to show my point I came across this account of a wrestling match.
We have Jacob, I like Jacob because he is like a lot of people we know; he may be like us. Jacob comes into the world and he faces a lot of problems; and like a lot of us, many of his problems are self inflicted.
Let’s take a minute to look at Jacob; he’s a twin, the second to be born. Genesis 25:26, “Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob.”
Jacob means “grabber,” and as he was being born it seemed as if he was trying to pull Esau back so he could be born first. For the rest of his life he was trying to grasp at things others had. If he wanted something he would use trickery, scheming and grabbing to attain his desire. And because of this he spent his life getting out of tight spots just to fall right back into another one.
Jacob is best known for tricking his father into giving him the family inheritance thereby robbing his brother Esau of his birthright. Genesis 27:41, “Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him and said to himself…I will kill my brother Jacob…” Because of his cheating Jacob became a fugitive for twenty years.
But now Jacob is heading back home. Yet he is still scheming. Jacob wasn’t quite sure how Esau was going to react, he’s afraid Esau might attack his band before they got home. To avoid his possible demise he sent his family and flocks and herds across the river first. Esau wouldn’t attack the woman and children on the other side of the river, but if he did, Jacob was safe on this side, nice guy.
Now that Jacob is alone he’s assaulted by a stranger; verse 24, “And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of the day.”
This must have been something to see, punch for punch; kick for kick, all night long. Then the man simply touches Jacob’s hip and dislocates it, and now Jacob realizes he has been wrestling with God.
To see what God is teaching us here we need to just back up a bit. Earlier in verse 9 Jacob prays to God; he prays for safety, he admits to God he is unworthy; and then almost immediately he sends his wives, children, servants and livestock across the river in an attempt to save his own neck.
Jacob prayed and then unsure of God’s response, he attempted to guarantee his own safety by his actions. Does this sound like any one you know? It sounds like me. Anybody else ever ask God for something, not get it in your timeframe and then try to get it on your own?
We can look at this another way. Jacob sent his family across the river for the wrong reason, his self preservation, yet God allowed it because it served his purpose of getting Jacob alone. Do you think Jacob would have reacted the same way if his family were right there? Sometimes during the greatest tests in our lives God will remove those things that distract us from him.
So Jacob wrestles with God. Let’s focus on the fight for a minute. It took me awhile but then I saw something; Jacob was never going to win this fight. Jacob though the stranger was a thief and he could have just given up, rolled over and let the man have whatever he wanted. But he didn’t do that. We see Jacob was persistent in his defiance; and he was rewarded for it.
This gives us another lesson about how God responds to us. When we ask God for something don’t just pray half-hearted or just once and then say, “Well, guess it’s not in the cards.” Be Jacob, be persistent.
Jesus tells a parable about a man who knocks on his neighbor’s door in the middle of the night for a loaf of bread. He kept knocking until he got what he wanted. It’s the same theme, God wants us to be persistent with him.
Jacob was like a lot of people in the world, he wanted things that weren’t his to have. He wanted to be born first; he wanted what was his brother’s. And like Jacob we may not like the position we are in this life. The reality is there are desperately poor in the world. There are hungry in the world, diseased, lonely and incarcerated people in the world. There will always be people in the world with less than us. There will always be people in the world with more than us.
It’s not wrong to ask God for something we don’t have but never forget to thank God for what you do have. And understand, no matter what you have or don’t have, as believers you do have God’s grace and mercy. As believers you already have the best of the best.
Jacob is a flawed person and he represents a flawed mankind. We may not have cheated our brother out of his inheritance and blessing but we all do things God considers sin. This account of the fight at the river also shows us the glory of God and the depth of God’s love.
Jacob is a sinner and wonder of wonders God himself came down to Jacob’s level and engaged him; why? It’s because God loved that pesky, cheating, arrogant man. God loves him and he blesses him. Do you see us in the story? We are the pesky, arrogant people at the river bank. We are going through life trying to accomplish our dreams by our own efforts. And yet God loves us so much that he came to earth as our Lord Jesus. God lets us wrestle with him and then when we in desperation finally turn to him, he blesses us.
Last, we see God changes Jacob’s name to Israel. Now instead of being called the “grabber,” his name means “soldier of God” or as some interpretations, “Prince that prevails with God.”
As believers each one of us has been given a new name by God. 2 Corinthians says that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. John 1:12 tells us, “But to all who did receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
We are children of the creator of the universe. We are the ones that prevail with God. We are God’s chosen people. We are Israel.
Jacob and his wrestling match teach us several things; one is that before we blame God or even others for the problems in our life, we need to check and see if the problem is of our own creation.
Two; sometimes God allows things to happen in our life because God wants us in a certain place and situation in order to best serve him.
Three; ff it seems God is removing things and people from our lives it’s not a punishment, it’s God removing distractions from our lives so we can focus on him.
Four; when you pray, be persistent; pray again and again but remember that whether or not you get what you pray for, you already have God’s grace and mercy and he always has your best interest at heart.
Five; as a pesky, arrogant man who has made many mistakes, I am eternally grateful that God is always willing to engage us on a personal level.
And last; as believers, know and believe that God is your Father and your name has been changed to “Child of the Most High God.”
Amen and God bless you.