The latter portion of Genesis 32 contains the event of Jacob wrestling with God. It is a Sunday school story those of us who grew up in church know, but not one we understand. While it is what we might call a “cool” story it often leaves us a bit puzzled.<\/p>\n
I think one of the problems is that we often read this story as if Jacob is the hero to be imitated. The best understanding we have of the story is that Jacob heroically held on to God with all his might and was darn tootin’ determined to be blessed by God. While there may be a bit of truth to that, if that’s the main point, we are whiffing a bit, and we feel it.<\/p>\n
For starters I would not assert that this story is about how strong Jacob was, but rather about how weak he was. Yeah, I said it, weak.<\/p>\n
To understand this we need to understand that this passage is actually not so much about Jacob, as it is about the other wrestler in the ring. This isn’t a story about how Jacob wrestled with God, but about how God wrestled with Jacob. The Divine Wrestler is the hero of the story.<\/p>\n
Jacob had no physical strength with which to wrestle the almighty. But he had a fleshly will that struggled with God, that resisted God. He had a human nature that believed he was self-sufficient and was reliant on his own strength, not God.<\/p>\n
But in Genesis 32 God came to deal with Jacob. The Divine Wrestler let Jacob struggle through the night to so that Jacob would come to the end of himself. Jacob was drained of all delusion of self-sufficiency and was left with nowhere to go but to hang on to God – to depend on His strength. With a touch, the Lord threw Jacob’s hip out of place, to strip him of his strength, so that Jacob would learn to lean on the Lord’s strength.<\/p>\n
Jacob didn’t get what he wanted out of God, God got what he wanted out of Jacob.<\/p>\n
Sometimes God wounds in order to bless. Sometimes God makes us weak so we can know His strength. Sometimes a limp from God is a blessing from God.<\/p>\n
Let us learn to surrender to the almighty and cease the struggle against him. Let us not live in delusion about our own strength and depend upon the Lord’s strength. Let us realize that at the end of ourselves is a good place to be, for that is where the power of Christ begins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The latter portion of Genesis 32 contains the event of Jacob wrestling with God. It is a Sunday school story those of us who grew up in church know, but not one we understand. While it is what we might call a “cool” story it often leaves us a bit puzzled. I think one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":3490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[61,205,212,274,277,281,386,539,557,562,669,678,679,698,699,765,801,818,1014,1056,1105,1194,1330,1370,1371,1372],"class_list":{"0":"post-3491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-61","9":"tag-bible","10":"tag-blessing","11":"tag-christ","12":"tag-christian","13":"tag-church","14":"tag-divine","15":"tag-genesis","16":"tag-god","17":"tag-gospel","18":"tag-jacob","19":"tag-jenkins","20":"tag-jesus","21":"tag-josh","22":"tag-joshua","23":"tag-lord","24":"tag-match","25":"tag-might","26":"tag-rags","27":"tag-riches","28":"tag-scripture","29":"tag-strength","30":"tag-weakness","31":"tag-wrestle","32":"tag-wrestler","33":"tag-wrestling","34":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/02\/img_1138.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3503,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-depth-of-mercy-in-the-pits-of-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":3491,"position":0},"title":"The Depth of Mercy in the Pits of Sin","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"February 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Genesis 34 narrates the darkest hours of Jacob's life. Not only in terms of things that happen to him, but also in terms of his own sin in response to those things. His only daughter, Dinah, is raped. Jacob responds with what seems like apathy - clearly the rotten fruit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "theology"","block_context":{"text":"theology","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/theology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/02\/2016-02-27-1456600071-9967635-blackhole.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/02\/2016-02-27-1456600071-9967635-blackhole.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/02\/2016-02-27-1456600071-9967635-blackhole.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3574,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-lord-comforts-his-servant-a-commentary-on-genesis-46\/","url_meta":{"origin":3491,"position":1},"title":"The Lord Comforts His Servant: A Commentary on Genesis 46","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"June 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Outline: God's Peace, Presence, Promise, Provision, and Protection. God's Peace (v1-3) Verse 1: When Jacob, on his journey to Egypt arrives at Beersheba, he makes a sacrifice to God, and God visits him there. It is interesting that Beersheba is where both Abraham and Isaac lived for a time during\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/06\/coffee-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/06\/coffee-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/06\/coffee-books.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/06\/coffee-books.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3469,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/resurrection-in-genesis-31\/","url_meta":{"origin":3491,"position":2},"title":"Resurrection in Genesis 31","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"January 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Genesis 31 contains the narrative that describes Jacob's exodus, or departure, from Laban after working for him for 20 years. If you are familiar with the story, you will know that Laban didn't treat Jacob with the most integrity. Laban famously tricked Jacob into marrying Leah, Laban's eldest daughter, whom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"31\"","block_context":{"text":"31","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/tag\/31\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/01\/fog-dawn-landscape-morgenstimmung-163323.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4999,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-land-was-filled-with-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":3491,"position":3},"title":"The Land Was Filled With Them","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"May 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:\u00a02\u00a0Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,\u00a03\u00a0Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,\u00a04\u00a0Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.\u00a05\u00a0All the descendants of Jacob were\u00a0seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.\u00a06\u00a0Then\u00a0Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/Exodus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3493,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/a-gospel-application-from-genesis-34\/","url_meta":{"origin":3491,"position":4},"title":"A Gospel Application from Genesis 34","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"February 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Genesis 34 is a dark and difficult chapter in Jacob and his family's life. 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