Wrestling with God and Man

Genesis 32:22-32

Are we Fighters?

• On Veteran’s Day we honored those who were willing to fight for our nations freedom.

• Soldiers are fighters.

• Does one have to be in the military to be a fighter?

• Jacob never fought in a war, yet God said Jacob fought against men and God.

• What about us? Do we fight men?

• Do we fight God?

Jacob was a fighter

• Jacob never fought against:– Foreign enemies

– Never defended a country

– Never lifted up a weapon

• Jacob’s battles:– Were with his brother

– His uncle

– His wives

– But mostly – Jacob fought God

Are we fighting God?

• God wrestled Jacob

• God wrestles with us

– He may wrestle with us before our salvation

– He wrestles with us after our salvation

• We wrestle with Him over life decisions

• We wrestle with Him in prayer

• We wrestle with those he send in our lives to instruct us.

Video- Entertaining Angles: I need you

• http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/entertaining-angels/i-need-you

God prepares us for our encounter with Him

Genesis 32:22–32 (NET) 22

During the night Jacob quickly took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream along with all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone.

• His past was a struggle

• Ahead of him was his biggest struggle.– He perceived it to be

Esau

– But first, a bigger battle

• God wants alone time:– No family

– No servants

– No possessions

God brings circumstances outside of our control into our lives to make us helplessly dependent on Him.

God wrestles with those He has chosen

Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25

When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he struck the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

• The man initiated the match.

• God may even the odds for awhile, but God wins.

• God may have to cause crisis for us to acknowledge his control.

Who is the man?Gen. 32:1–2 1 So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim. Hosea 12:4 He struggled with an angel and prevailed; he wept and begged for his favor. He found God at Bethel, and there he spoke with him! Jacob will imply that he has seen the face of God.

Cling to God, our blessings come from Him

26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, “unless you bless me.”

• “Let me go..” Does it feel like God is pushing away?

• He has wrestled and clung to everyone else for blessing:– Esau– Isaac– Laban

• Crippled, Jacob acknowledges his dependency for blessing was from God.

What are we Clinging to?

• The blessing to come from other people?

– Do we have an Esau or Isaac?

– Do we think our blessing will come in a relationship: boyfriend, spouse, children?

• Do we cling to our possessions?

• Do we get our blessings from popularity?

• Do you depend on your talents for blessing?

Why do we stop grasping to God?

• Crisis?

• Broken relationships?

• Church people let you down?

• Unanswered or inadequate answers to our questions?

• Doubt?

• Unanswered prayer?

• We don’t feel God has come through for us?

These cause some to let go of God, but cause others to cling tighter to him.

We must admit who we are

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” He answered, “Jacob.”

• God knows Jacob’s name.

• He lied to his Dad when last asked this question

• Jacob’s name has come to mean:

– Heal grabber

– Cheater

– Deceiver

• Jacob owned up to who he was.

What is your name?

• Do we admit who we are?– “My name is bitterness”– “My name is greed”– “My name is unfaithfulness”– “My name is deception”

• Am I self-confident, self-reliant, and self-dependent.

• These must be conquered by God if we are to fulfill His purposes in our lives.

• God may be wrestling with you to own up.

Once broken, God changes us

28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, “but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed.”

• Your no longer deceiver, heal grabber, cheater

• You are Israel – God strives, strives with God

• “Fought” – sarah – verb: strive, persist, persevere, struggle, exert oneself.– Fem. Noun – Princes– Place prefix M – rule, have

dominion.

• Prevailed – overcome, succeeded, conquered

God Changes Us

• Jacob was no longer Jacob, he was Israel

• We are:

– No longer called Sinners, but Saints

– No longer God’s enemies, but friends

– No longer orphans, but Children of God

– No longer rejected, but “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.”

2 Cor. 5:17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come!

Know God and be Blessed

29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” “Why do you ask my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, explaining, “Certainly I have seen God face to face and have survived.”

• “Why do you ask my name?”

– “Don’t you know who I am?”

• “Blessed” – invoked divine favor, success.

• “Peniel” – Face of God

– Face of God is Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the

representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

In Jacob’s weakness he became strong

31 The sun rose over him as he crossed over Penuel, but he was limping because of his hip. 32 That is why to this day the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip near the attached sinew.

• When the sun rose he was a new/changed man

• God’s strength is in our weakness.

2 Cor. 12:9 But he said to me,

“My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. What weakness has God put in your life? He

may intend it to be your greatest strength.

Prayer of an Unknown Confederate Soldier

I asked for strength that I might achieve; I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness

that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy

all things. I got nothing that I had asked for, but everything that I had hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered; I am, among all men,

most richly blessed.

God is not afraid to fight with you

• When we wrestle with God, we always lose. But when we lose, we win!

• God won (he always does).

• Jacob lost, but in loosing Jacob won.

• When we loose we learn how small and dependent we are. In our dependence we cling to Him and become blessed.