This week, we will be exploring Genesis 32 together, Wrestling According to God.
Or perhaps it should more accurately be called Wresting with God.
Jacob literally wrestles God in this chapter.
It is a hard thing to imagine. In fact, most Jewish interpreters struggle to make any sense of this chapter. And it is the very chapter that explains where the name Israel came from!
Some see Genesis 32 as a dream or a vision. Some see it as a throwback to some kind of mythical battle against demons or "river gods." Some see it as an allegorical story on prayer or an inner psychological wrestling match in Jacob's own head.
But the text is clear: Jacob wrestled a Man whom he later realized was God. In fact, it had to be God because He is the one who blesses Jacob and changes his name. And Jacob had no doubt who had that kind of power, Yahweh Himself. That's why he stops in the morning to contemplate what just happened and he names the place, Peniel, "the face of God."
Jacob sees God's face...and lives.
Jacob wrestles God...and comes away with only a limp.
Jacob encounters the God-Man who would redeem his life and ultimately provide redemption for the whole world.
It's an amazing story...and one of the key chapters in the whole Old Testament.
And I think it is also the story of us all.
We are all "God wrestlers" to some degree. We are all "heelcatchers" trying to make life work on our own. And when we encounter God, He often feels like an antagonist, like someone trying to stop us from doing what we want or hinder us from having fun or interfere with our self-sufficient lives.
But in actuality, the God-Man is seeking to redeem us.
He is a Friend who comes to save.
And we have to learn to stop fighting Him and instead cling to Him alone.
That's when we find the blessing and receive a new name.
May God open our eyes to His truth and transform us into the image of His Son!