Jacob Wrestles with God
20 years ago, Jacob cheated Esau of his
birthright and the blessing of their father. Esau said that he wanted to kill
Jacob to settle the grudge that he had against his brother (27:41). As a
result, Jacob had no choice but to flee his own home to Paddan Aram, the home
of his uncle. He later built a home there.
However, the life Jacob had wasn’t a smooth
one, because his uncle and his uncle’s children envied the wealth that Jacob
had accumulated. In the end, Jacob decided to leave Paddan Aram and go back to
his home with his wives, servants and livestock.
Jacob and company were finally going to meet
Esau after a long time. Great danger awaited them. Jacob sent his servants
ahead of him to his brother Esau in the country of Edom, to greet him and to
say hello.
Verses 3-5: Jacob sent messengers ahead of him
to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed
them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I
have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle
and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this
message to my lord, that I may find favour in your eyes.’”
Jacob’s purpose of doing this was to first try
to get some news about his brother and secondly to indicate that he was willing
to submit to his brother. Jacob stood low, calling Esau as lord.
Esau responded by bringing along 400 men to
meet with Jacob (v.6). Esau was bearing down on Jacob menacingly, as if he
wanted to punish Jacob for, he had done. How should Jacob deal with this?
Prayer and Action Carried Out
Simultaneously
Jacob feared that Esau came with bad
intentions. He exercised fully the spirit of caution and strives; he split his
people and property into two groups, sending one group ahead as a sign of
goodwill towards Esau in order to win his heart. If one group were to be
attacked, the other group would be able to escape.
At the same time, Jacob did not forget to pray
to God. He prayed for God’s protection over him. In his prayer, Jacob reminded
God of the promise to make him prosper and his descendants numerous.
Verses 9-12, Jacob said, “O God of my father
Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord,
you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will
make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have
shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I
have become two camps. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I
am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your
descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”
Jacob did not just sit still and do nothing;
he also did not panic due to fear. He planned for the worst-case scenario,
which is the best plan a person could do. Jacob did his part as a man, then
looked to God and prayed, maintaining a close and good relationship with God
through prayer. When man has a good relationship with God, he can look
forward to resolving conflicts with men.
Are we facing dilemmas, crises and challenges
in our lives today? What do we mean when we say we should look to God?
To “Look to God” means to do all we can to the
best of our ability to solve a problem. When we have done all, we can, we will
realize that there are some areas that cannot be done by the hands of man. It
is at this point that we call out to God, asking God to give us grace to fill
in where we lack.
Today, many pray, but do not act. This is just
an excuse to not do anything. Many people, after measuring their own ability,
feel that they will fail; therefore, they do not act. This is not the correct
attitude because we do not know how to look to God.
If we only go ahead start launching a project after
we consider a project thoroughly, making sure it is 100% feasible, then would
God still have room to work?
We should do our part and also pray to God;
these two aspects must occur simultaneously. Our correct attitude should be
acknowledging that we are incompetent, yet stepping out in faith and looking to
God for help. Moreover, when we maintain a close relationship with God, many
difficulties and conflicts will resolve by themselves.
As the story continued to develop, we see that
Jacob was safe and sound, being forgiven and accepted by his brother.
33:4 says, “But Esau ran to meet Jacob and
embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.”
It is surprising to see that Esau’s attitude
towards Jacob had totally changed. He treasured and loved Jacob and welcomed
him back. Esau’s change of heart was not due to Jacob’s scheming, but rather
Jacob’s prayer to God. God changed Esau’s heart that he may be satisfied with
all that he had and not plunder Jacob. God’s work is indeed wonderful!
Do you still remember God’s call and promises
to you? Are you worrisome and uneasy
when you face difficulties today?
Do not give up, do not be discouraged, but rely
and pray to God. Entrust your problems to God and rely on God to move forward.
Your difficulties are no more serious than the crisis that Jacob encountered!
Hold On to God, the Night will Pass
Now, it’s night time. Jacob would meet Esau
early the next morning. Jacob had sent his family and all his possessions
across the stream at the ford of Jabbok, but he stayed behind. Why did Jacob
want to be left alone?
Did he want to have quiet meditation and
continue to pray to God? Or did he want to calm himself and think of a counter
strategy? Or is he trying to flee when the opportune moment comes?
20 years ago, he crossed the Jordan alone with
his staff. Now, he had family, possessions, and wealth. Could he leave
everything behind as easily as before?
Even in his mother’s womb, Jacob was already
fighting with Esau. He wanted to fight for the family wealth, the authority to
lead, honour, and his father’s love and blessings.
Jacob’s pursuits and struggles reflected the
competitive mentality of today’s people. When morning comes, Jacob’s life would
come to a turning point. He might lose everything he had. Life, in the end, is
always empty.
It was a long night. Jacob was confused and
dispirited. He was alone, without family, without his possessions, without any
protection. He had to face life and death alone. At a moment like this, God
appeared!
A mysterious man suddenly appeared before
Jacob. It was very dark, and Jacob without first identifying the mysterious
person lunged forward and wrestled with him until daybreak.
Jacob could have imagined his opponent as the
difficulties and forces that act against him in his life. These included his
brother Esau. Through wrestling and physical exertion, Jacob released the fear,
anxiety and the stagnation of his heart.
Dawn was fast approaching and the first rays
of the sun could be seen over the horizon. “Night” represented the darkness and
struggles of Jacob’s life, while “Dawn” foretold of Jacob’s healing and release
from his suffering and challenges. Jacobs’s problems resolved by themselves!
Jacob felt that his opponent came from God, so
he held on to him, refusing to let go until the person gave him a blessing.
Verses 26-28 say, Then the man said, “Let me
go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you
bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then
the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have
struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
From struggle and wrestling, Jacob
transitioned to prayer. All his pursuits and struggles could not bring him true
happiness and satisfaction. Only by holding on to God tightly that life can be
safe and steady; that life can be satisfied.
The blessing that the mysterious man gave Jacob
– his new name – Israel signified a new life from God. That he might step out
with boldness to confront his problems and overcome them.
Today, we might struggle with others all the
time, like Jacob. By hook or by crook, we struggle for wealth, relationships,
career, honour, authority, and so on. To desire and go after these things is
not wrong. What’s wrong is we think that we can find happiness, satisfaction,
purpose and fulfilment if we managed to obtain these things.
These must not be our ultimate goal. We will
eventually find that life is transient and these things will not give us the
satisfaction and purpose that we seek for. We will suddenly fall into “Night”.
We will face difficulties. We will struggle and panic.
This is the moment when God comes and meet
with us. He will guide us and bless us, giving us the strength to face our
challenges.
Let us wrestle with God in our prayers,
worship and serving. Hold on to God; persevere in seeking Him, trusting Him,
until He blesses us. If we have God with us in our lives, His grace will be
sufficient for us, and He will add unto us other things that will satisfy our
desires that we may have true happiness and life with His purposes in mind.
A True Father Who
Loses to God
For a big part of his life, Jacob was
wrestling with God, cheating and plotting against others. The mysterious person
said that Jacob struggled with God and humans and have overcome/won. Did Jacob
really win?
Verse 25: “When the man saw that he could not
overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was
wrenched as he wrestled with the man.”
Jacob actually lost to God! The mysterious man
“lightly” touched Jacob’s hip and made him limp. That person has a supernatural
ability; he purposely let Jacob win when they were wrestling. He wanted to
leave before daybreak to save Jacob from seeing the face of God and die.
What’s paradoxical is that after losing to
God, Jacob became a true winner. He realized that God is bigger than him and
that he would need to solely rely on God and obey God.
Now that Jacob was limping, he could not do
anything by his own strength; not even flee by himself. Instead, he now relied
on God’s blessing in his weakness and has victory. Limping, Jacob went to the
forefront of his family and greeted Esau.
33:1-2 say this, “Jacob looked up and there
was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among
Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. He put the female servants and their
children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the
rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he
approached his brother.”
Jacob went on with his wound. However, these
wounds were the mark of grace, reminding Jacob that God is with him. He
overcame his difficulties solely by relying on God’s promises and grace. He was
no longer a deserter. He shouldered the burden of being the head of a family
and went forward to face the danger and struggles ahead!
Today, we might be like Jacob, consistently
wrestling with others and with God. We fight for what we want. As long as we
get what we want, we give no compassion for others. The end justifies the
means; cash is king! We do not submit to God, nor do we submit to the
authorities that God placed over us. We want to walk our own path. We fuss over
every little thing with God. We want to hold on to fame, profit, power, love,
wealth, career and so on. On the surface, we are winner, but in actual fact, we
are the losers.
Life is uncertain and changes all the time.
One day we might lose our fame, profit, power, love, wealth, career…. We will
stumble and be depressed. We might even be unable to face reality and seek to
end our own lives by then.
If one day we did finally obtain these things,
we would realize that they do not bring us lasting fulfilment and happiness. We
would realize that we held on to the wrong things. These things are “idols”;
unable to give us happiness and the purpose of life.
People including Christians have many “idols”
that replaced the true and living God in our lives. That’s why our lives are
uneasy and day by day we live anxiously. Our hearts are not satisfied. We do
not have peace and joy, only struggles and exhaustion. The purpose and
happiness of our lives can only come from God Himself. Only God can truly
satisfy the emptiness and longing in our hearts.
In the darkness at Golgotha, Jesus Christ hung
tightly onto the cross in weakness in order to redeem us. Even though Jesus had
the ability to come down from the cross, He did not, because he wants to
justify us before God the Father and thus obtain His blessing. The blessing is
not for Him, but for us.
Galatians 3:13-14 say, Christ redeemed us from
the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is
everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing
given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by
faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Just like Jacob, we were face to face with
God, yet we did not die. Instead, we received blessing because Jesus died in
weakness on the cross. He paid the debts of our sins, that we may be reconciled
to God. In this way, God’s blessing on Abraham may come to us.
We cannot find blessing outside of God. In
Christ, we are received as the sons and daughters of God. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit
that we are God’s children, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” From God, we can
receive the ultimate blessing of life.
Today, if we had taken the long way round,
journeying through countless struggles and pursuing wrong goals to obtain
happiness, it is time to turn back and receive Jesus as the lord of our lives
and return to the embrace of God. The real winner is the person who loses to
God.
To lose to God means to submit to God’s lead,
putting down our rebelliousness and surrender to the majesty of God, obeying
His will, fearing Him, and placing Him at the centre of our lives.
With God as our guarantee and refuge, our
lives will be safe and steady, full of joy and purpose. We can accept our gains
and losses in life, because we know that in all circumstances God loves us, he
wants to bring the best out of us. We can rest in his embrace. Are you willing
to be this great winner?
