The Limp Felt Round the World
Genesis 32:1-32
November 30, 2014
Well this morning we come upon
Another one of those familiar stories in the Bible.
Jacob wrestling with God.
And quite frankly, I don’t know why this story surprises us.
Certainly by now we know that Jacob is precisely that type of strong-willed individual that hardly ever just submits the first time.
• Jacob is self-reliant
• Jacob is head strong
• Jacob generally only consents after there is no other option
And just in my saying that
Jacob just became many of your favorite Old Testament saint
Because you just realized how well you identify with him.
Jacob never seemed to come without a fight.
And this morning we finally see the event
That has been necessary since the day Jacob was born.
WHAT DAY WAS IT?
They day God finally broke Jacob.
Brokenness is not necessarily a term that we like to think about much in our Christian walk, but it is certainly a necessary one.
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
If you aren’t spiritually broken and bankrupt,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
You also have to hate what you were.
Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.”
The word meek there means “strength under control”, it means submissive.
The person who never becomes broken over their own condition and submissive to God is a person who will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
• If you’ve never come to the end of your self…
• If you’ve never realized your own failure…
• If you’ve never seen that you are hopeless and helpless…
• If you’ve never reached that sort of spiritual depression and bankruptcy…
• THEN YOU’VE NEVER COME TO CHRIST.
Because we meet Christ at the end of our self.
And now I think you know where we are with Jacob.
God has been calling him, molding him, teaching him.
This morning God is about to break Jacob
And begin the transformation process in Jacob’s life.
It is a glorious picture!
And it all centers around Jacob meeting Esau.
If you’ll remember, Esau was the reason Jacob left in the first place.
Well, now it’s time to meet again and God will use this event to finally turn Jacob into a man who relies on God and not himself.
There are 5 main points to help us give some structure to the chapter.
#1 A SPIRITUAL CERTAINTY
Genesis 32:1-2
This is such an important revelation that comes to Jacob from God.
It is not different than either of the other two revelations Jacob received.
When Jacob was fleeing to Haran God showed him the vision of the ladder from heaven that Jacob might know that God was working for him regardless of what he was about to face.
When Jacob was about to flee from Laban God showed him in a vision how all the male goats had become speckled and striped and mottled and reminded Jacob that He would be with him as he fled.
And now as Jacob prepares for another scary incident
Here is God once again to remind Jacob at the outset
That He has it all under control.
(1-2) “Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim.”
Just like the vision of the ladder from heaven,
Jacob is here granted the right to see
What is otherwise invisible to the human realm.
God allowed Jacob to see “the angels of God” camped about him.
Some render it “This is God’s company” as if to say, “God’s army”
Jacob was about to face Esau
Certainly Jacob was filled with anxiety over this encounter,
And yet God is assuring Jacob before they ever meet
That regardless of what may come to him,
God is present to protect him.
Chris Tomlin sings:
“You hear me when I call, You are my morning song. Though darkness fills the night, it cannot hide the light. Whom shall I fear? You crush the enemy underneath my feet. You are my sword and shield though troubles linger still. Whom shall I fear? I know who goes before me, I know who stands behind. The God of angel armies is always by my side. The One who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine. The God of angel armies is always by my side.”
The Psalmist said:
Psalms 34:7 “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.”
Perhaps you remember the story of Elisha and his servant.
The king of Aram was enraged at Elisha for always disclosing his position and plans.
When the king of Aram decided to capture Elisha,
He had his troops surround him at Dothan.
When Elisha’s servant went outside and saw the surrounding armies he was frightened.
2 Kings 6:15-17 “Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
This concept of God’s angels camped around the righteous
Is a true spiritual reality.
Those who talk about having a “Guardian Angel” are selling God short.
Those who fear the Lord have a “Guardian Army”.
So Jacob actually sees the army of God that is camped about him.
• He actually sees just how much God is for Him.
• He actually sees his protection.
God wants Jacob to know that regardless of what is on the other side of the river, God is with him.
A Spiritual Reality
#2 A SUPPOSED CRISIS
Genesis 32:3-8
On one hand we have what is certain and concrete and absolute.
We know that God and His army are with Jacob.
Now we move to what Jacob did not know, and what was not certain
(3-5) “Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.”‘”
Now I don’t mind telling you that
I don’t really have a problem with Jacob’s approach here.
The writer of Proverbs said:
Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Proverbs 15:18 “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms a dispute.”
In the New Testament, Paul said:
Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”
That being said, it doesn’t bother me that Jacob presented himself to Esau calling him “my lord” and calling himself “your servant”
It also doesn’t bother me that Jacob spoke of the wealth he had acquired
As if to set Esau at ease since Jacob was insinuating that
He was not coming to take what Esau had.
Everything about what Jacob does here is to calm a potential fight.
And that is fine with me.
In fact I think it is probably wise.
But it is the word Jacob receives back that causes him to panic.
(6) “The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
And what is Jacob’s assumption?
Esau is coming to kill me just as he promised before I left.
(7-8) Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies; for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”
Now I’m not saying I wouldn’t be afraid in such circumstances,
The truth is, I would probably be afraid as well.
However, that fear is absolutely uncalled for – WHY?
Because God is camping about Jacob.
Jacob only assumes that Esau is coming to fight,
But Jacob should know that God is there to fight.
But none the less, Jacob is in a scary spot
And I think God has certainly allowed that.
A Spiritual Certainty A Supposed Crisis
#3 A SUBSEQUENT CRY
Genesis 32:9-12
Here is Jacob’s prayer and it is a wonderful prayer.
We’ve talked about prayer on Wednesday nights
And how God loves that “Prayer of Faith”.
Well, here is an excellent example!
Now if you recognize the bookends of this prayer you will notice that Jacob both begins and ends with the promise God made to him.
(9) “Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,’”
(12) “For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.'”
The main thrust behind Jacob’s appeal to God is that
God is the One who said Jacob should return
And that He would be safe in doing so.
And Jacob is reminding God of those promises.
And not only is Jacob reminding God of those promises,
But Jacob lets God know that he would really like for God to keep them.
(11) “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.”
Jacob feared the absolute worst from Esau.
To attack “the mother’s with the children”
Was a cruelty that goes beyond a grudge.
And so Jacob is crying out to God, that God not let that happen.
And here is my favorite part.
It is WHY Jacob is crying out to God.
Jacob is praying to God based on God’s promises,
Not because Jacob thinks he deserves it.
You have to love verse 10
(10) “I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.”
Look God, I know that I absolutely do not deserve the loyalty [HESED]
And faithfulness you have chosen to show me.
I was nothing but a poor man fleeing from his angry brother,
And yet You have taken an interest in me and blessed me.
And not only that, but it wasn’t me who came to You asking for all this prosperity, it was You who came to me saying You were going to give it.
“So God, even though I am unworthy,
I am asking You to please do what You said You would.”
That is what we call a prayer of faith.
It is a prayer that trusts in the nature and promises of God,
And not in our own worth as the reason our prayers should be answered.
And at this point in the game that prayer is really expected.
Jacob is afraid, so he most certainly should pray.
Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
SO JACOB PRAYED
The problem is that this is not all that Jacob does.
A Spiritual Certainty A Supposed Crisis A Subsequent Cry
#4 THE SAME OLD CONCLUSION
Genesis 32:13-21
As soon as Jacob is finished praying, he immediately springs into action.
He has a plan!
(There is that same old Jacob, always with a plan)
The plan is to appease Esau with gifts,
And to do it gradually so as to calm him down over time.
Jacob has “a present for his brother Esau”
This present would consist of five waves of gifts.
1) “two hundred female goats and twenty male goats”
2) “two hundred ewes and twenty rams”
3) “thirty milking camels and their colts”
4) “forty cows and ten bulls”
5) “twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys”
So Jacob is going to calm him down with gifts.
(20) “For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”
BUT REMEMBER, JACOB DOESN’T EVEN KNOW IF ESAU IS ANGRY
Jacob was running ahead again and trying to fix things
By his own ingenuity and ability.
Now look, it is NOT sinful to give a gift to your brother.
There was nothing immoral or wrong with what Jacob did.
It’s NOT even like Jacob specifically did something
That God told him not to do.
So we aren’t even going to charge Jacob with disobedience, or even a lack of faith here.
The problem however is that when push comes to shove,
Jacob still trusts in his own abilities and plans to win the day.
Jacob will = recognize God, pray to God, and even honor God,
But Jacob’s final hope is not God, it is his own ability.
Jacob’s safe zone is his own ingenuity.
Jacob doesn’t like to surrender control.
20 years in Haran and Jacob still wants to fix things himself.
CAN YOU SAY STUBBORN?
CAN YOU IDENTIFY WITH JACOB?
Well, enough is enough, this has to go.
A Spiritual Certainty, A Supposed Crisis, A Subsequent Cry, The Same Old Conclusion
#5 A SEVERE CORRECTION
Genesis 32:22-32
Now this portion of the story begins with
Jacob crossing one of the forks of the Jordan river (“the Jabbok”)
And then Jacob sends his family on a little further until he is left alone.
And here comes the story Jacob is most famous for.
(24-29) “Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.”
Now I don’t know how you’ve had that story explained to you in the past,
But I can tell you how it was often explained to me.
“JACOB WRESTLING WITH GOD IN PRAYER”
Jacob was afraid of Esau
Jacob sat down and wrestled with God in prayer until God agreed to protect Him
And the story is likened to Jesus praying in the garden
Or us striving in prayer.
Now striving in prayer and praying fervently and praying with faith
And praying without losing heart are in fact all Biblical realities.
Colossians 4:12 “Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.”
Romans 15:30 “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,”
Certainly there is an element of prayer that is work
And I do not wish to minimize that.
But you are going to have a very difficult time applying that concept
To what is happening here with Jacob.
WHY?
Well FIRST of all, it was not Jacob who approached the man, it was the man who approached Jacob.
The Scripture does NOT say “And Jacob wrestled with God…”
It says, “Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.”
Any notion of Jacob approaching God
And wrestling until God should finally give in is a little faulty.
SECONDLY the passage says that the man “saw that he had not prevailed against” Jacob.
So what are we to assume?
Jacob was wrestling with God for protection from Esau and a blessing,
But God was unwilling to do that until Jacob outwrestled him?
If you’ve read the story of Jacob at all,
You’d know God was NOT resisting the notion of blessing Jacob.
That was precisely God’s plan.
Beyond that, God had already given him a flock,
And was now encamped around him.
To assume that Jacob was trying to force God
To protect and bless him, is to read this passage in a vacuum.
SO WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?
The wrestling match you see here
Is that of God trying to get Jacob to quit being so self-reliant.
• God is holding Jacob down…
• God is putting his arm behind his back…
• God is pinning back his legs…
• In effect God is saying, “Cry Uncle”…
God is trying to get Jacob to let go of this constant desire
To do it on his own and be so self reliant.
THE PROBLEM?
Jacob won’t give in
And regardless of the battle all night long, Jacob just won’t let go and the man “saw that he had not prevailed against him.”
But God has plans for Jacob and He is not about to
Let Jacob remain self-sufficient and self-reliant.
So when Jacob refuses to consent, what does the man do?
“he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he was wrestling with him.”
This man who was wrestling with Jacob actually crippled Jacob.
Because Jacob trusted in his own strength, God actually made him weak.
AND THIS IS WHERE THE STORY TURNS.
It is obvious that after this happens that Jacob realizes who he is wrestling with,
And although he can no longer out wrestle, Jacob does choose to hold on.
“I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
And please notice the answer.
(27) “So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
Now why would this man ask Jacob that?
Jacob’s name meant, “one who takes by the heel” or “one who supplants”
Jacob’s name revealed him as a man who does it on his own,
A self-reliant man who takes what he wants.
(GOD JUST FORCED JACOB TO LOOK AT HIMSELF)
• The reason you have difficulties…
• The reason you are constantly in a mess…
• The reason you struggle with me…
• The reason I had to cripple you…
IS BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS INSIST ON BEING A JACOB!
You continually hold to your own ability, even over God’s.
But now that you are crippled and in need of my blessing,
You won’t be a Jacob anymore. Now you are going to be “Israel”
“Israel” can either mean “he who strives with God”
Or better in Jacob’s case, “God strives”
Where as Jacob meant “You fight”
Israel means “God fights”
“Your name shall not longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
This does not mean that somehow Jacob defeated God.
It means that Jacob finally overcame what was holding him back.
When the fight started, Jacob was a strong man
Who could resist what God wanted in favor of his own strength.
But after God crippled him Jacob was a cripple
Who could only hold on to God wanting God’s help and blessing.
And when Jacob reached that point, God said – “Now you’ve overcome”
NOW YOU GET IT
Jacob then wants to know the man’s name.
“But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?”
He wouldn’t share his name because it wasn’t revealed yet.
Remember when Samson’s dad asked the same question?
Judges 13:18 “But the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”
This name is the name above every name.
It is the highest name.
DO YOU KNOW WHO JACOB IS WRESTLING WITH?
It is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.
Jesus even said:
Matthew 13:17 “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Jacob was wrestling with Jesus
After that Jacob named that place “Peniel for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
Jacob realized that God could have done far worse than cripple him.
God could have killed him for his stubborn wrestling.
And in the final verse Moses reminds us that this incident was commemorated throughout the ages among the children of Israel as they would not eat the “sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh.”
It was a perpetual reminder.
A REMINDER OF WHAT?
That oftentimes God has to break us
Before we can ever be what God intends for us to be.
Need a New Testament reference?
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me — to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Paul was learning that he could never be truly strong in his own strength,
It had to be God’s.
1 Corinthians 1:25 “…the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
Think about Paul – no doubt he would rest in his own ability.
Remember what he wrote to the Galatians?
Galatians 1:21-24 “Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me.”
It was clear that Paul’s reputation of a persecutor turned preacher was quite the tool in his ministry, AND YET GOD TOOK IT AWAY.
WHY? HOW COULD HE?
Because God had a greater strength for Paul beyond that.
And when Paul learned that, he said:
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
That is the same thing Jesus is doing to Jacob.
• Jesus wrestled with Jacob
• Jesus broke Jacob
• And the end result was Jacob clinging to Jesus.
Now let me ask you…HAS GOD EVER CRIPPLED YOU?
What God did to Jacob wasn’t unique to Jacob.
Jacob’s limp is a limp many of you have felt.
It is “The Limp felt round the world”
• Your limp may have been financial…
• Your limp may have been emotional…
• Your limp may have been reputational…
• Your limp may have been mental…
And I realize that it can seem cruel for God to take the opportunity to actually inflict pain upon you.
But the honest truth is that if God were not willing to do that,
It is quite possible that you and I would never leave that crutch behind and learn to rely on Him.
What I want you to realize this morning is that
God did not cripple you that he might make you weak.
God did it so that you might be strong by trusting in his strength.
• Can I remind you not to trust in yourself?
• Can I encourage you to quit wrestling with God?
• Can I tell you that God can always push harder?
• Can I promise you that He loves you enough to certainly do it?
Don’t think for a second that Christ would refuse to make you limp if it might save your soul?
HE WILL NOT LET HIS PLAN TO SAVE YOU FAIL
HE BREAKS THOSE WHO COME TO HIM
THAT HE MIGHT REBUILD THEM EVEN BETTER.
