Wrestling the Angel

The Patriarch Jacob

  Jacob was now on a journey home to the land that God gave to Abraham, Issac and himself,  this journey home would  lead him to an unexpected encounter with the great God.We can read his story  and about his encounter in Genesis:32:22-33 

Jacob anticipated a negative encounter with his elder brother Esau , who was ahead ,and he believed was waiting for him, desiring vengeance for taking his birth right and blessings

Jacob divides his family and sends them ahead, while he stays behind alone at the Ford of Jabbok

"That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok." Genesis:32:22

The Ford at Jabbok, was a dark and desolate and strange  place, yet it was here Jacob's life would be transformed.

Validation

All Jacob's life he had sought validation from others, Issac, Rebeka, Laban, his wives, concubines and wealth. But he never really sought it from the only one who could truly grant it to him, that is the Eternal God. He had spent his life wrestling for this validation, yet it had eluded him, always wanting but never finding it, this need was never met,  always seeking it through the wrong means.

Alone

But now, here alone in this dark and forlorn place that God came to him, in the form of a man, this is what theologians call a Theophany, that is God accommodates humanity, (pre-incarnation),  and engaged Jacob in an all night  wrestling match.

"After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak." Genesis:32:22-24a

Wrestling the Angel

For Whatever issues and short comings  Jacob may have had, he showed a measure tenacity even with a painful hip displacement, and  in wrestling the hips are the place where your greatest strength comes from. Yet Jacob did not let go of "the man".

"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. 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. 

In the midst of the struggle "the man" demands to be turned lose, but Jacob refuses until he is blessed. "the man"  asked Jacob's name,  and here Jacob's request for blessing is finally supported by honesty, and he answers "Jacob" , the importance of this moment is great, recall that Jacob had received great blessing from his blind father Issac, through deception, telling Issac that he was Esau -Genesis:27
 Now he is honest about who he is, not just his name, but who he is, that is his nature. He was brought to face the truth about himself. His very name Jacob means tripper, deceiver.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”

Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip."

Jacob carried the pain of that struggle with God in that dark and strange place  with him for the remainder of his days, yet as painful as it was,  it was a ever present reminder of the transformation that God blessed him with, he would never forget that moment of blessing and seeing God face to face.

We All Wrestle the Angel  

Jacob's story is our story. All of us have like Jacob have sought our validation through means and ways that simply will never work. It is when we find ourselves uncertain of what lies ahead in our journey home to those things that our God has promised ,we may find ourselves  alone in dark strange  and forlorn places.In these dark and strange places, places we may never have thought that we would find ourselves that God will come to us and engage us in a struggle, all through the night. Like Jacob we may not recognize who it is that we struggle with. There in the darkness going back and forth, being tossed, pushing and holding, countering our every move. 

Like Jacob our place of greatest strength might be dislocated, what ever we may have  relied the most may be wounded and become painful , no longer useful as strength and leverage. We reach the point that we run out of strategies and tactics , that all we can do is hold on. 

What Is Your Name?

Then we hear the question " “What is your name?”  , that is, who are you? God speaks and He asks us to be honest about our selves- and it is then when we confess the truth about our selves, that is, what the struggle was all about,  to show us , that we,  like Jacob have gone through life  seeking to uses our own cleverness and abilities. That we have lived out of the strength of  the flesh.  When we , in the midst of wrestling the Angel ,   are brought to see the truth about ourselves then we can be blessed;  be called by a new name  as Jacob was.  Given a new name a renewed nature  a new identity. We become overcomes, a child of God.  All because we cling to our Lord  and will not turn Him lose and confessed the truth about who we are. And because we held on throughout the long struggle and  the light  of day came and we behold the face of our God. That is we see Him a bit clearer and we perceive  that it was God all along who grappled  was with us, all for our good and blessing.

Walking With A Limp

But we may walk in victory with a limp, even as Jacob.  That is,  God may leave an ever-present reminder in our lives of the night we Wrestled the Angel, He may allow that place of greatest strength and leverage to be painful to us, all the rest of our days....That it will remind us of the transformational struggle in that dark and strange place where our God  met us and we came to see the truth about who we are and then  we saw Him face to faced in the clear light of that glorious dawn, walking with a limp; but walking as a victor in Christ having received His blessing.  ...Amen

Rev.Todd Crouch, Pastor

Fountain of Life Church

Washington, Pa 

Fountain of Life Broadcast heard on RKP Radio 1710 & 1670 in Washington, Pa.

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