Genesis 32: Alone with God

Genesis 32: Alone with God

Genesis 32: 24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

I don’t know if you can relate to Jacob as a schemer, but I can. And when you are someone who is capable of getting him/herself into our out of almost any situation, it is pretty scary to consider the moment that we are really truly alone with God. I think it’s a moment most of us try to avoid at all costs. Especially when we’ve got a beef with Him or a grudge to nurse.

Its interesting to note that this night of physical wrestling that Jacob had with God wasn’t something that Jacob initiated with God. God found him. God picked the fight-or so the text seems to indicate. Why did God do that? Why did He strive with Jacob literally and physically that night? I think its because Jacob was one of those people who found his place in the world by testing the limits. It was sort of his personality. He fooled a lot of people in his day and pulled a lot of stunts. And so for him, for his chastening—God accepts the challenge that Jacob had issued to the world—even in the womb.

And Jacob apparently had a lot to bring to the fight, because he would not let go of the Angel of the Lord until he blessed him. In fact God had to touch Jacob’s hip to prevail. He had to cripple him to finally get him to give in. But Jacob didn’t really know who it was he was dealing with until it was all over. Until he was marked by God in a way that he would never forget; not just in his hip, but in his identity. It was his night of wrestling with God that gave him a new identity as Israel.

I can’t tell you how many times in my life I have found myself wrestling and I had no idea until it was all over that the real person I was struggling with was God. We don’t usually see that until its played out and we can see that it usually is God we find ourselves taking issue with when he take life by the horns. It usually boils down to the fact that things haven’t played out the way we thought they should. And we feel like we had a better script if everyone else would just take their proper roles. But they don’t. And finally when the light begins to dawn on our wrestling, we see that its ultimately the Lord with whom we strive.

But the hope of this story for me at least is that Jacob isn’t cursed for striving. He is allowed to wear himself out. And so are we. God understands why we strive. The amazing thing about our Lord is that He condescends to engage us. He does. I am so thankful that the times I have shaken my fist at heaven—He has always accepted my challenge and prevailed. He has ultimately and finally showed Himself to me as the real one I challenge when I strive for control.

It is not an insecure thing to know that He wins. It is an amazing comfort. Because unlike us, when God prevails, He blesses those who strive with Him. I’m glad to know my Lord’s will is greater than my own. That his purpose can overcome mine. That I can surrender ultimately to His touch, for even if it marks me with pain, it transforms me.