Wrestling with God

Genesis 32:22-32

22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”  But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”  27 So He said to him, “What is your name?”  He said, “Jacob.”  28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.”  And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.  30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” 31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob's hip in the muscle that shrank.

Jacob went ahead after earlier sending many gifts to appease his estranged brother Esau.  It was still night, and so he sent his family and servants across the river first.  When he was alone, Jacob encountered a mysterious man who wrestled with him as if to delay or stop him from crossing over to join the rest.  As dawn broke and the man could not beat, he touched Jacob‘s hip and dislocated it.  He wrestled on despite the injury and its crippling pain.  The man then told him to let him go as the sun rose, but Jacob did some we see as odd, he asked for a blessing from the unknown one wrestling him.  The man asked his name, then changed it from Jacob to Israel, from “supplanter” to “God prevails.”  Then Jacob realized that he wrested with God concerning taking over the birthright from Esau he was about to see again to God having the victory in His life and future for His people through Jacob-Israel.  Therefore Jacob named that spot Penuel, meaning “facing God,” for her then realized he had been wrestling with God and His will for his life.  He limped across the river then to join the others as a changed and renamed man.  Even the Jews later made a custom of not eating the hip muscle of animals due to this encounter of Israel’s resistance to their God.  We can likewise learn as we wrestle with God’s will to accept our renaming in Christ (Revelation 3:12) as His followers and imitators, being now fruitful for God and not contending with others for significance or inheritance.  We serve each other instead of gaining the upper hand, and remember that the victory is Christ’s.