G/C 4 Year Anniversary
SERIES: The Gospel in Genesis
TEXT: Genesis 32:22-32
MESSAGE: Wrestling with God
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“…Jacob would soon discover, grace, not negotiation, is the only solvent of guilt.” — Derek Kidner
TEXT: Genesis 32:22-32
What does it look like to wrestle with God?
For Jacob there were three aspects to it…(1. Coming Alone 2. Experiencing Pain 3. Holding Tightly)
- Coming Alone (v. 22-24)
“The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.”
“…both his renewed desire to be alone, and the form that the night struggle took, indicate a hunger now for God himself; a hunger awakened by the crisis but not determined by it.” — Derek Kidner
- Experiencing Pain (v. 24b-26)
“ And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” — C.S. Lewis
- Holding Tightly (v. 27-31)
“And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Peniel, limping because of his hip.”
“…the way of true spiritual strength, leading to real fruitfulness in Christian life and service, is the humble, self-distrustful way of consciously recognized weakness in spiritual things.” ― J.I. Packer
TAKEAWAYS: Three questions
* What area in your life are you wrestling with God?
“The purpose of the dark night…is to strip us of our futile attempts to find God on our own terms and awaken us to a much simpler desire for intimacy with God.” — Chuck DeGroat
* Would you hold on long enough for God to change you?
* Do you see God becoming weak for you?
“…and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
— Matthew 27:40