"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.'” Genesis 32:24-26
Imagine what it would be like to wrestle with God. It would generate so many questions. "Why would God want to wrestle with me?" "How could I possibly win?" "What did I do wrong?" Though this is a true depiction of an actual event (based on it not being stated that it is a vision or a parable), it is an object lesson designed to represent a larger message. In this case, it is, in part, about how Jacob had been "wrestling" since the womb. He wrestled away his brother's birthright and blessing and then had to contend for the wife of his choice. Contextually, he was about to face what he thought would be an angry Esau but the divine wrestling match conveyed that he would prevail and receive God's blessing.
The point today; however, comes from the match itself. It was indeed a contest and the point of every contest is to win. In wrestling, winning means pinning your opponent to the ground or securing his retirement ("tap out" in today's vernacular). Despite wrestling all night, neither contestant is reported as hitting the ground or giving up. When Jacob's hip was dislocated, it caused pain, sapped strength, and took away leverage. It would be easy to see how he might go down. Instead, the supernatural opponent said "let me go."
Beloved, there are times when we go through troubling and difficult. As Christians, we have been taught to reach out to God. We do so through prayer, fasting, studying of the Scriptures and perhaps spiritual counseling. Our desire is to prevail against whatever it is that plagues us. It is clear based on the opponent's words that Jacob was holding on to him, refusing to give up and refusing to go down despite his limiting and painful injury. This is what we must do. Hang on with everything we've got and do not let go no matter what. If we let go of God in the midst of trials, we will surely lose, but if we embrace Him until he blesses us, then we will surely prevail. To be clear, prevailing does not meant to win but to succeed. Neither opponent lost, but Jacob was successful in receiving his desired blessing.
Jacob met Esau and found love instead of death. Renamed Israel by God, he said to Esau that seeing him was like seeing God. This connected to his post match confession that he had seen God face to face and lived. The match revealed to him in advance that he would not lose his life at the hands of his brother, but that he would prevail and be blessed. Let us do as Jacob did and hold on to God until the blessing comes.
Discipling,
Lee
