Wrestling With God
Tony Nester
Genesis 32:22-31
When I read the OT reading for this morning, I wondered, ’’Will there be any ‘Jacobs’’’ here this morning?’’ I would be the first to raise my hand and say, ’’That’s me!’’ Jacob-type believers have not had an easy time with God. Their experience of God hasn’t been simple, or smooth, or always happy.
You may not be a Jacob. You have always believed in God. You’ve not doubted God’s providence. You’ve been quick to obey God’s commands. You’ve found faith matches your temperament. You’ve spent your days in the green pastures and quiet waters of Psalm 23. So, if that’s you this morning, I’m asking you to listen in as I talk about Jacob because most of us are not like you. The rest of us are more like Jacob. Like Jacob, we have struggled with God. And when we read of Jacob’s wrestling match with God by the River Jabbok, we nod our heads saying, ’’Yes, I’ve wrestled with God as well.’’
But then, you might be more of a Jacob than you realize. For Jacob became Israel-his God-given new name. And God’s people were known as Israelites-always remembering their connection with Jacob. And the Church knew itself as the New Israel, and so Christians keep Jacob in our collective memory. Maybe there’s more of Jacob in you than you know. Maybe God wants to wrestle you down as well, and if that’s not yet happened to you, it still may.
So lend me your imagination, and let’s see Jacob that night by the Jabbok River. Jacob is in crisis. He is about to confront his twin brother, Esau, from whom he had run for his life after cheating him out of his birthright and his father’s blessing.
Flashback! At their birth, Esau was coming out first. So Esau would have the rights and privileges of the firstborn in the family. Jacob would have to defer to his elder brother, and Esau would receive a much larger share of the family inheritance. But in that delivery, which must have been difficult for Rachel, just as Esau was coming out Ja ...
Tony Nester
Genesis 32:22-31
When I read the OT reading for this morning, I wondered, ’’Will there be any ‘Jacobs’’’ here this morning?’’ I would be the first to raise my hand and say, ’’That’s me!’’ Jacob-type believers have not had an easy time with God. Their experience of God hasn’t been simple, or smooth, or always happy.
You may not be a Jacob. You have always believed in God. You’ve not doubted God’s providence. You’ve been quick to obey God’s commands. You’ve found faith matches your temperament. You’ve spent your days in the green pastures and quiet waters of Psalm 23. So, if that’s you this morning, I’m asking you to listen in as I talk about Jacob because most of us are not like you. The rest of us are more like Jacob. Like Jacob, we have struggled with God. And when we read of Jacob’s wrestling match with God by the River Jabbok, we nod our heads saying, ’’Yes, I’ve wrestled with God as well.’’
But then, you might be more of a Jacob than you realize. For Jacob became Israel-his God-given new name. And God’s people were known as Israelites-always remembering their connection with Jacob. And the Church knew itself as the New Israel, and so Christians keep Jacob in our collective memory. Maybe there’s more of Jacob in you than you know. Maybe God wants to wrestle you down as well, and if that’s not yet happened to you, it still may.
So lend me your imagination, and let’s see Jacob that night by the Jabbok River. Jacob is in crisis. He is about to confront his twin brother, Esau, from whom he had run for his life after cheating him out of his birthright and his father’s blessing.
Flashback! At their birth, Esau was coming out first. So Esau would have the rights and privileges of the firstborn in the family. Jacob would have to defer to his elder brother, and Esau would receive a much larger share of the family inheritance. But in that delivery, which must have been difficult for Rachel, just as Esau was coming out Ja ...
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