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[Announcer] (0:00 - 0:19) Think about the Bible like you never have before! You're listening to Christian Questions. Experience more episodes, videos and Bible study resources at ChristianQuestions.com. Our topic is: "What Happens When We Wrestle With God?" Here's Rick, Jonathan and Julie.

[Rick] (0:20 - 0:31) Welcome everyone! I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over twenty-five years. Julie, a longtime contributor, is also with us. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?

[Jonathan] (0:32 - 0:44) Hosea 12:3-4: "In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity he contended with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel and there He spoke with us..."

[Rick] (0:44 - 2:07) Many know the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel. When we just drop in on the account and read what happened, there are many unanswered questions. I mean, why would you pick a fight with an angel, anyway? Why would an angel even let you fight?

Couldn't the angel have overwhelmingly defeated Jacob even before the altercation began? What could possibly be gained by such a confrontation? Once we begin to understand who Jacob was and the experiences of his life that led up to this confrontation, it all begins to fall into place. What we will find is that Jacob lived a life filled with experiences of great faith as well as experiences of great deception and rivalry. God allowing him to wrestle with the angel gives us a clue as to how God knows us and meets us where we are. I just want to mention the inspiration for this particular episode came from a dear brother in Christ,

Jerry, who gave a sermon at a Bible convention called "Wrestling With God." After I heard him speak, I walked up to him and said, Jerry, can I use your notes, because this will make a great podcast. So Br.

Jerry, thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Julie] (2:07 - 2:13) Getting into our story, Jacob had a respectable family tree. His grandparents were Abraham and Sarah; his parents were Isaac and Rebekah.

[Rick] (2:13 - 2:32) Jacob's birth is in some ways a preview of his life. Just his birth; I mean, it starts right at the beginning. When his mother, Rebekah, was pregnant with both him and Esau, God revealed a prophecy to her about her twins. This is what that prophecy says in Genesis 25:23-26:

[Jonathan] (2:33 - 3:10) "The LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger. When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them." It's like Jacob was saying from the womb, Get back here--you can't go ahead of me!

[Julie] (3:11 - 3:25) Yeah, that name "Jacob" means "supplanter; one who takes the place of another," literally "one who takes the heel," because of this account. There's an element of being deceitful. Think, "one who follows after with the intent to deceive."

[Jonathan] (3:26 - 3:42) Being this second-born twin who was prophesied to be the higher rank of the two. The two brothers grew up to manhood and sure enough, Esau sold his birthright as the favored firstborn to Jacob for a bowl of stew. The supplanting had begun.

[Julie] (3:42 - 4:06) The birthright had to do with both position and inheritance. The firstborn son generally inherited the leadership of the family and a double portion of the paternal inheritance. This would have been important in Jacob's family, not only because of their physical wealth, but also because of the special covenant promises God made to Abraham, his grandfather, and then Isaac, his father, that would continue down this particular bloodline.

[Rick] (4:07 - 4:52) You've got these promises on the line and they're sold off for a bowl of stew. We're going to come back to that later. Now several years go by and Isaac is now very, very old. He asks Esau, his firstborn, to go and hunt some game and prepare a meal, and then Isaac would bless Esau as his firstborn. Here you have the coming of the blessing that's based on the birthright. Esau seemed to have no intention of telling his father that oh, by the way dad, I sold that birthright to my brother because I was hungry one day. Not at all. He didn't have any intention to say that I forfeited my birthright and gave it to my brother, Jacob. He went off to hunt so he could get the blessing.

[Julie] (4:53 - 5:07) This supplanting--this replacing--continued as his mother, Rebekah, heard what was happening, and she devised a plan. She instructs Jacob to deceive his old and frail father so that Jacob could receive the blessing instead of Esau.

[Jonathan] (5:07 - 5:47) The plan worked. Jacob received a very special blessing as Isaac thought he was blessing Esau. Genesis 27:27-29: "So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed; now may God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and an abundance of grain and new wine; may peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you; be master of your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you."

[Rick] (5:47 - 6:24) This is a very detailed, very specific, very powerful blessing handed down from Isaac, the promised seed, to who he thought was Esau, the next promised seed. Now, it was Jacob.

He (Isaac) was deceived. He thought it was Esau, but it was Jacob. Esau shows up later and, obviously, is taken by complete surprise. We're going to drop in on this account when Esau is now before his father, Isaac, and understanding what's happening. Genesis 27:32-37:

[Jonathan] (6:25 - 6:40) "Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed."

[Julie] (6:41 - 7:03) You read, "Isaac trembled violently." He knew from that pregnancy prophecy years and years earlier that that younger son would be greater than the older. Bible commentaries differ on what this might have meant. Rick, do you think he was afraid because he realized he made a mistake?

Or did he realize he had been about to go against the will of God if he would have blessed Esau instead?

[Rick] (7:03 - 7:28) It's hard to say, but this violent trembling is like, something is awry. It could be that his mind--because he's very old--it could be his mind went back to, I just dodged a bullet here and not because I was intending on it, but because of what happened. It's hard to say, but you can see this is a very profoundly emotional moment for both of them.

[Julie] (7:28 - 7:33) Okay, so oops! A misunderstanding occurs, I blessed the wrong kid. Let's just reverse the blessing and give it back to Esau. Why didn't that happen?

[Rick] (7:33 - 7:51) Can't do that because in those days--and we're missing this--but in those days your word was your word was your word, and once you gave it, it did not come back. This is what we're going to see unfold as we go on to the next verses. Jonathan, Let's pick up with Genesis 27:34-37:

[Jonathan] (7:51 - 8:32) "When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with exceedingly great and a bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me, even me also,

O my father! And he said, Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing. Then he said, Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" He "took away" a "birthright" and it was a false accusation. Esau gave it away, but he conveniently isn't explaining this to his father.

[Julie] (8:32 - 8:59) Back in Genesis 25:34 it says, Esau "despised his birthright." Hebrews 12:16 calls Esau "profane" (meaning godless) because he sold it for it says, "one morsel of meat." He now wanted the physical advantages of the inheritance, but didn't appreciate the spiritual part of it with the covenant God had made with this family. There's a birthright, and then there's a blessing. The blessing was considered to be the act formally acknowledging the firstborn as the principal heir.

[Jonathan] (8:59 - 9:12) Continuing with Genesis 27:37: "...But Isaac replied to Esau, Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants...Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?"

[Rick] (9:12 - 9:39) We're done. It's over. I've made the decision. I've given the blessing. This is a godly thing that I've done.

I can't change what has happened. You look at that and you realize that Esau would have, perhaps, had at least a moment of regret for... should have never done what I did earlier in life. You look at this and this is a very, very dramatic change. You think wow, this is bad. No, things only get worse from here. This family unit continued heading headlong into dysfunction. It really starts to fall apart. Genesis 27:41:

[Jonathan] (9:39 - 10:04) "So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

[Rick] (10:04 - 10:12) This is now--he's thrown down the gauntlet. I'm after him. I'm taking him out. I want that blessing. It should have gone to me.

Now you've got this incredible revenge starting to brew.

[Jonathan] (10:12 - 10:48) Rebekah hears of this and tells Jacob in Genesis 27:42-45: "...Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury subsides, until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?" Rebekah thought this would blow over in a few days. She didn't understand just how angry Esau was.

[Rick] (10:48 - 11:10) This is a big, big, big deal because you've got this incredible rivalry. There's twins, and now it becomes a life and death circumstance because a blessing is given and can't be taken back.

[Julie] (11:11 - 11:33) It said, "your brother's anger" will subside "and he forgets what you did to him." Yeah, no, that's not going to happen! Jacob left and would end up spending twenty years away. While there, he became the recipient of deception and underhanded dealings at Laban's hand. Jacob became the victim of lies and learned the sinfulness of lying, and this humbled him. Among other things, Laban violated an agreement with Jacob and gave him his daughter Leah to be his wife instead of his younger daughter Rachel, as promised.

[Jonathan] (11:33 - 11:44) Jacob worked an additional seven years to earn Rachel's hand in marriage. It is through these two wives and their handmaidens that Jacob at this point had eleven sons born to him.

[Rick] (11:44 - 12:02) In this twenty years of being away, you can see that there's a lot that's happening in Jacob's life. But it's happening in the context of deceit and lying and all of these things because now he's getting it from Laban. You can see that this is the theme that surrounds who Jacob has been throughout his entire life.

[Julie] (12:02 - 12:35) Yeah, he wanted to leave, Laban wanted him to stay. They work out an agreement as to how they're going to divide their flocks. Jacob got the upper hand in a somewhat questionable way. He's still walking that line of deception. He ends up with the best of the flocks. Laban becomes suspicious so Jacob again--just like twenty years earlier with Esau--avoids the conflict and leaves.

[Rick] (12:35 - 13:02) He leaves. Again, he leaves and he takes with him all of his family and all of his flocks and all of his servants and all of his wealth. After twenty years Jacob is heading back home. This brings us to Jacob's experience of wrestling with an angel of God. We had to fast forward through his life to see all of the wrestling and all of the things that were out of order in his life. As we look back over Jacob's life, though, to this point, just summing it up, what do we see? What we see carries a theme and it carries the theme of Personal Restlessness and Wrestling with God:

[Jonathan] (13:02 - 13:28) Jacob's story is real. The heroes are not always the best examples of righteousness, and the villains are not always pure darkness and evil. Through his life journey Jacob had survived through sometimes questionable means, while knowing that he would be the recipient of God's very special blessing. Life experiences may not always be pretty, but they should always lead us forward!

[Rick] (13:28 - 13:48) What we're saying is, we're not advocating doing the deceptive things. Bhat we are advocating is paying attention to your life and learning from the experiences that are coming your way. Looking back over Jacob's life helps us to see that the challenges and issues of life that we may face are really nothing new.

[Jonathan] (13:48 - 13:56) How will God get Jacob ready for the blessings ahead of him as he journeys back to his home with his family, flocks and household?

[Rick] (13:57 - 15:04) God's plans unfold in His time and in His way. As Jacob journeyed home with his family and wealth, God would give Jacob all that he would need to elevate him to a level of being a truly blessed example of God's own favor. This growth would happen while he journeyed, and it would show him the humility needed to maintain God's favor. It would show him the humility needed to maintain God's favor. Perhaps this was the missing ingredient, humility, all along the way. Not my way, but Your way. We're going to see how Jacob unfolds his life and begins to truly understand that, but it's going to take some pretty hard experiences. Let's go back a little bit. Twenty years before this journey back toward home with his family and his wealth, Jacob was leaving home. He was going the opposite direction. When he left home it was Jacob walking alone with his staff. That's it. That's all there was.

[Julie] (15:04 - 15:20) We're going to start to read the well-known account of "Jacob's Ladder." That's where he dreamt there was this ladder between heaven and earth with angels going up and down the ladder. The account continues with Jacob being given God's very specific promises in Genesis 28:13-15:

[Jonathan] (15:20 - 15:53) "And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

[Julie] (15:53 - 16:05) This is the promise. Now in the next verses Jacob creates an altar and calls this place Bethel, meaning "house of God." His grandfather Abraham had done something similar back in Genesis 12:7-8.

[Rick] (16:05 - 16:35) You've got this place that seems to have this very holy significance. But this promise, that Jacob is walking alone away from home in fear of his life, is a powerful promise. You know that Jacob remembered that promise through that twenty years of being away. While he's now on his way back home to Canaan, he is again given experiences with angels. I mean, he can't get away from angels and it just shows you God's providence in his life.

[Jonathan] (16:35 - 16:51) Genesis 32:1-2: "Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's camp.

So we named that place Mahanaim."

[Rick] (16:51 - 17:13) This Hebrew word for "camp" is "encampment." Jacob names this place "Mahanaim." It's the plural word for encampment, meaning "twin camps" or "two camps." Why? Why does he name this place after two camps? We're not told, but perhaps he saw them (these two camps) as military camps there to give a warning of Jacob's potential upcoming hostile encounter.

[Julie] (17:13 - 17:18) Some Bible commentaries suggest that maybe Jacob is acknowledging that it's his own entourage or company sharing the space with God's.

[Rick] (17:18 - 18:08) Whatever the reason is, he's got this, and he sees these angels and he understands they're messengers from God and he takes some part in all of that. Now, he's got to figure out how to get back to communicating with Esau. Jacob next is going to send messengers to find Esau and notify Esau that he's coming. Now remember, they've been apart for twenty years and the last time you saw Esau, it's--I want to kill you. All right, so he's going back and he needs to see if he can work through this really difficult situation. As we go through these next scriptures, we know that Jacob's life experience has been full of deception and rivalry and trickery. Well, notice in these scriptures coming, there's going to be no deception, no trickery.

There's simply a humble greeting. Life lessons here seem to begin to take hold. Genesis 32:3-5:

[Jonathan] (18:08 - 18:43) "Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau... He also commanded them saying, Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight." Jacob shows great respect to his brother by calling him "lord," even though God said Jacob would rule over Esau. Jacob also offered the blessings of his father by giving Esau some of his herds.

[Rick] (18:43 - 19:00) Yeah, he's being very, very, very magnanimous as he's coming back and he's trying to show that, I don't have any hard feelings. Here, this is part of my great fortune and blessing. Here,

I want you to have it. You look at that and say, wow, that's wonderful! But you know, the other side of this is sometimes grudges are not easily forgotten. Let's look at what happens on the other side of this, Genesis 32:6-8:

[Jonathan] (19:00 - 19:18) "The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."

[Julie] (19:19 - 19:27) Oh, that's not a good sign! Remember, the last thing Esau said to his brother was, I'm going to kill you. You don't need four hundred men for a happy family reunion!

[Jonathan] (19:27 - 19:45) Continuing in Genesis 32:7: "Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies; for he said, If Esau comes to the one company it attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape."

[Julie] (19:45 - 19:51) Smart plan, because worst case, half the family survives, but he's going to lose everything unless God intervenes.

[Rick] (19:51 - 20:46) Yeah, four hundred men that are there to mean business and so this is scary and this is a "what-do-I-do-now" moment. There is that panic of well, we're in the middle of nowhere, we're far away from there, we're not to where we're going yet, and the only thing to do is move forward with all of my family, all of my cattle, all of my household and to face these four hundred men. This doesn't look good!

This is a scary, scary, scary moment. It's difficult. Now Jacob has always been a fighter in terms of trying to work through things--especially with Laban, the back and forth and the back and forth-- but here Jacob responds in a humble prayer mode. He claims what God had already emphatically promised him. In these next verses in Genesis 32, he's going back to what God had promised him twenty years before. Genesis 32:9-12:

[Jonathan] (20:46 - 21:08) "Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you, I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I cross this Jordan, and now I have become two companies."

[Julie] (21:08 - 21:12) He appropriately recognizes God's abundance in his life.

[Jonathan] (21:12 - 21:38) "Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children." This seems to be where he has "wrestling with God" in it's beginning. It starts with prayer, You said this God, but what I'm facing is that--I'm afraid and I need assurance and something to hold on to because I fear the loss of my family.

[Julie] (21:38 - 21:45) He had no idea how this would turn out. His entire family's life was at stake because of what he had done decades earlier.

[Jonathan] (21:45 - 21:58) But he continues by reminding God of His covenant promise. Genesis 32:12: "For You said, I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered."

[Rick] (21:58 - 24:00) He says to God, "For You said..." He is bringing it right back home and he's showing faith and he's showing courage, but he's still scared to death because he has no way of defending himself. Now he's seen angels in a dream twenty years ago, he has seen angels in an encampment, but he hasn't seen angels there to fight. He's like, Well, what am I supposed to do?

What do I do now? Well, here's what he does. Over the next two days Jacob repeatedly worked at appeasing his brother by sending many gifts to him. The way he did this--he was very, very wise and very humble-- he sent these gifts in waves, each one with a spokesman proclaiming them as gifts to Esau from Jacob. This was for the purpose of Esau being able to receive him. He'd send him cattle and gifts and then in a little while he'd send him some more and then he'd send him some more. Because he's trying to show him God has blessed me and I'm giving you a large portion of this blessing. He's trying to soften the anger that he perceives is on the other side. Then he's got to keep his family moving. Finally, he has the rest of his goods and his family cross over the brook Jabbok and he alone is remaining behind. He's all alone and it's getting dark and there's no place to go. There's four hundred men in front.

You've got your family and herds and household separated and it's just you, and it's quiet and it's dark. Jacob is alone just like he had been twenty years earlier when he had that dream of the ladder of the angels and when he received God's promise, that powerful promise. He would again be visited by an angel, but this time this visit would be very, very different. Let's look at Genesis 32:24-28 to just get a sense of what happens here and then we'll break it down in the next segment:

[Jonathan] (24:00 - 24:35) "Then Jacob was left alone, and a man (an angel) 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. So he said to him,

What is your name? And he said, Jacob. He said, Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."

[Rick] (24:36 - 25:11) We're seeing that this is what's about to happen. Jacob is all alone and it's dark and everybody's at risk. This man shows up who's an angel and they fight and they wrestle for hours. We've got to break all of that down and figure out what happens with all of that. This again is showing us the picture of what Jacob's life had looked like, and for us we need to take the lessons and look at it as the Personal Restlessness that we may have as we may be Wrestling with God in our issues:

[Julie] (25:11 - 25:37) In this case, God knew that beneath all of the supplanting and all of the deceiving interactions of Jacob's life was a heart that could humbly serve Him. He allowed Jacob to experience deception from both sides-- both being the deceiver and the deceived--as well as large doses of life insecurity. All these things would contribute to Jacob growing into the faithful servant of God's will that he was chosen to be.

[Rick] (25:37 - 26:12) He was chosen, but it doesn't mean that everything came floating to him on waves of glory and comfort. Things came to him in a torrent and in difficulty and insecurity. This is where the wrestling comes into play and he's a tremendous example of faith under great, great pressure as he is learning from the lessons of his own life. When we look back at these experiences of Jacob's life that spanned decades, we can really see how God was methodically teaching him needed lessons!

[Jonathan] (26:12 - 26:19) Now we have come to the heart of the matter. Jacob will wrestle with God. What can we learn from this dramatic experience?

[Rick] (26:19 - 27:01) Well, we're going to quote from Br. Jerry in his sermon that he gave. He said, "When you think about it, this image of wrestling had been a major part of Jacob's life. He was wrestling as he emerged from the womb and grabbed Esau's heel. Later in life, he figuratively wrestled with Esau as he strove for the birthright. When he first met Rachel, he wrestled the stone away from the mouth of the well (a story that we didn't cover). For twenty years, he figuratively wrestled with Laban for his family and his possessions. And now, in this culminating moment of his life, when he's returning to the land of promise, he's now wrestling with God." That wrestling with God is in the form of wrestling with an angel.

[Jonathan] (27:01 - 27:23) They fought throughout the night and Jacob would not quit. Genesis 32:25-26: "When he (the angel) 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."

[Rick] (27:23 - 28:45) They wrestle through the night and Jacob doesn't give up. The angel sees this, is like, okay, it's daybreak, time for me to go. He's like, Nope! I'm not letting go. With the touch of his hand, he dislocates his thigh.

This is not a regular person here. This is an angel. I've never had a dislocated bone, but I've watched people with them and it is not a pretty sight. Here he is with this, and yet he's not letting go. This desperate determination to not let go shows us how important this battle was for Jacob. He had no other choice in his mind. Perhaps his wrestling with this angel depicted how he had to wrestle with himself at this moment as well--I've got no other option.

I have to hold on to God's messenger! I can't let go! God's promises were big and Jacob knew that. Jacob took them seriously and he knew that he needed to grow into inheriting them. That's what this is about. Abraham's worthiness had been tested,

so Jacob's would be tested as well. This is a moment of, God, I need Your blessing. I can't do without Your blessing.

I'm not letting go. I can't do this. I am desperate. That's what this wrestling is. Genesis 32:27-28:

[Jonathan] (28:45 - 28:58) "So he (the angel) said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob."

[Julie] (28:58 - 29:00) Remember the name "Jacob" means "supplanter; one who takes the place of another," "one who takes the heel; one who follows after with the intent to deceive." His name was associated with deception and cheating. This is who he had been.

[Jonathan] (29:00 - 29:09) Continuing in Genesis 32:28: "He said, Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."

[Julie] (29:09 - 29:46) Etymology is the study of the origin and evolution of words. The etymology here of the noun "Israel" is complex, with more than one meaning. There's two elements; "Isra" and "El." "El" is easy. That's a noun, the common abbreviation of "Elohim," meaning "God." "Isra" is thought to come from the verb, the Hebrew verb "sarah" that can be translated as "to strive, fight, struggle, contend with." As this verse 28 said, "...you have striven with God." Notice, it's "you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." This word "Israel" is the focus on the struggle, not on the prevailing.

[Jonathan] (29:46 - 30:18) He is still called "Jacob" for several more chapters, but the angel kind of gave him a preview of what was to come. Genesis 32:29-31: "Then Jacob asked him and said, Please tell me your name. But he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And he blessed him there.

So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved. Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel (meaning face of God), and he was limping on his thigh."

[Rick] (30:18 - 31:44) A lot has happened here. You had this hours-long wrestling match and Jacob finally lets go because he's blessed. Now think about it. He was blessed by having his name changed. On the surface you look at that and say, Okay, what does that mean? For us it may not mean a lot, but remember Abram had his name changed to Abraham so there's something very powerful in this scenario. You notice at the end of the account there in verse 31, The sun rose up as he crosses over and he's limping. He can't walk the same way anymore because he was given a blessing there.

There are several key points here. First, Jacob's tenacity was not to just fight, but to hold on even when he was physically defeated. He held on even though it was over. You can't win this battle but he hung on anyway as he searched for a blessing and it shows us the character of this man. God would give him the name that would forever be the name given to His chosen people. The second point is we cannot help but think that Jacob's life would show what Israel's national existence would look like. We will see Israel would struggle--it's always a struggle for all of us-- to live up to God's expectations and God's providence and God's direction. He hung on and by hanging on and being defeated, he actually won a very, very significant battle.

[Julie] (31:44 - 32:24) When we look at the big picture lesson, it's a blessing to strive with God. Wrestling or struggling with God was a core part of Israel's very existence. Israel wrestled at times with their faith and their trust in God. How many times did they ask to go back to slavery

as they journeyed in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt? Even in Judaism today, the symbol of Jacob wrestling with the angel is used to represent deep questioning of the faith, where a question could be considered more valuable than the answer; it teaches exploration and not necessarily discovery. Religious Jews are very much encouraged to both challenge and submit to God.

[Rick] (32:24 - 33:01) We need to take the lessons of Jacob wrestling here and say, what about us? How is it that we are following after God's will and God's word and God's way? Being a Christian is not an easy task because it requires trial and tribulation and difficulty and uncertainty. Just like Jacob! What we want to understand is what he did, what he went through, the growth that he needed, is an example for us to follow after. In this wrestling, this holding on, even while in pain and completely exhausted, he held on. Why? I need your blessing! That's why.

[Jonathan] (33:01 - 33:42) Jacob's wrestling and the angel's blessing would result in a complete reconciliation with Esau. Genesis 33:1-4: "Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept."

[Rick] (33:42 - 34:42) You see this incredible reunion, but Jacob doesn't know how it's going to go, so he's got everybody in order. What does Jacob do? He gets out way in front of everybody and he sees his brother in the distance, having no idea if he's a dead man at this moment and he goes and he bows to the ground and he gets up and he walks a little further and he bows again and he does it again and again. Seven times he's showing such submission because he wants to have a reunion and a reconciliation, not a war. Esau sees him and has seen all of these things and they're brothers. They hug and they weep together because they are reunited and they're reunited as brothers.

What a powerful, powerful result of that wrestling with the angel, with that wrestling with God. Let us look at his experience and let's look at our own Personal Restlessness and our Wrestling With God as well:

[Jonathan] (34:42 - 35:04) Jacob's encounter with God's power through an angel would end up being a life changing experience. Jacob's raw tenacity to receive God's blessing would open the door to the promise that it existed all along. Jacob simply needed to express his need for God's direction. Jacob's wrestling was his need for God being manifested.

[Rick] (35:04 - 35:28) I like what you said, Jonathan. Jacob simply needed to express his need for God's direction. That's what the wrestling is all about and Jacob shows us this in a very graphic, very dramatic way. Now after several other difficult experiences, Jacob was again directed by God. We're going to fast forward to Genesis 35:1-3:

[Jonathan] (35:28 - 35:57) "Then God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone."

[Julie] (35:57 - 36:30) This sounds like a fresh start-- no more false gods, clean yourself up, even physically change your clothes. Often clothes in the Bible can represent character. It's like he's saying, We are God's chosen people, so we're going to act like it! And notice Jacob is instructed to return to Bethel where God first appeared to him when he was running from Esau. God had been faithful to Jacob for these last 20 years. Jacob builds the altar and calls the place now "El-Bethel," meaning "God's house of God." God's presence was really made known here.

[Rick] (36:30 - 37:06) All of the wrestling, all of the deception, all of the lies, all of the questionable activities have been peeled away from Jacob and what is he left with? We have been blessed. This is what we're going to do.

We are going to restart our lives because God is with us and has been even when we couldn't see it before. The drama here cannot be overstated! The message that is being given shows us that God understands where we are and presses us to want His direction!

[Jonathan] (37:06 - 37:20) For Jacob, the wrestling experiences of his entire life and especially with the angel had molded him into a man that God could build a chosen people out of. Can our wrestling with God do the same?

[Rick] (37:20 - 37:45) It can if we're determined to continually draw closer to God. The real key to wrestling with God is our "why." Why am I doing this? Are we wrestling to get away from Him or from some life challenge OR are we wrestling to understand and find His guidance and His blessing and to have Him be In front of us? Sometimes we have to hold on for dear life so we can have Him ahead of us.

[Julie] (37:45 - 38:10) Just to recap; "wrestling with God" is a metaphor for spiritual struggle, perseverance, transformation. Here's a question to ask in the mirror. Where in my spiritual life might I need more persistence?

[Rick] (38:10 - 38:41) Persistence is a very, very, very good word. That's a warm-up for this kind of wrestling. It really is. You look at the Psalms-- there's 150 chapters in the book of Psalms and they are very, very, very significant testimonies about God's care. One of the reasons the Psalms are incredibly uplifting is they show us what life is really, really, really like under the surface. Psalm 88 is perhaps one of those Psalms that lays out wrestling with God in a very straightforward, very blunt way and there are "no holds barred" in this wrestling match. It is a very deep, difficult experience.

[Julie] (38:41 - 39:13) Psalm 88 is often considered to be the saddest Psalm in the Bible--and just a warning-- it's very depressing! But like Jacob sometimes, we have to develop through the difficulties of life in order to find great blessing. God understands the depth of our despair and we are grateful that His divine plan has an answer for all.

[Rick] (39:13 - 39:46) Why would we choose one of the most depressing songs in the whole Bible to finish this story? Well first of all, Br. Jerry, in his sermon, did that and we're following that lead. When I was looking at that saying, why did you pick that one? I get it because when you overlay Jacob's experience over the darkness and difficulty of this Psalm 88, what you see is how we feel and God's great hope all together. We start with the first part of the Psalm. Jacob-- let's overlay Jacob's experience. He was alone,

remember, that night when he wrestles with the angel. He's alone in the dark and he has no idea, no idea what to do. There is no clear path before him. Let's look at Psalm 88:1-3.

[Jonathan] (39:46 - 40:09) This is from the American Standard Version (ASV): "O Jehovah, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee. Let my prayer enter into Thy presence; incline Thine ear unto my cry. For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto Sheol."

[Julie] (40:09 - 40:21) In other words, I'm ready to give up. I've had enough and I have nothing left. Jacob must have felt like this as well when his family was confronting four hundred men and one vengeful brother.

[Rick] (40:21 - 41:05) You have the sense, "...As my life draweth nigh unto Sheol" ( (Sheol is the word for the grave); my life is drawing nigh to just darkness and nothingness. Sometimes that's how we feel, especially, folks, those of us who have depression and anxiety. You get into these places and all you can see Is the dark and this Psalm really, really picks up on that. Like you said, Julie, it's, I'm ready to give up, I've got nothing. There is nothing.

It's all becoming dark. The key here is to understand Jacob's experience as we go through this and to learn that in the midst of our wrestling, there can also be resting. Let's look at how that's done.

[Jonathan] (41:06 - 41:19) This kind of despair appears many times in the Bible. God doesn't discourage it; rather, He has it in His word to show us that the depth of our despair is NOT deeper than the depths of His compassion.

[Rick] (41:20 - 42:37) Don't ever forget that the depth of our hurt and pain and suffering and distress and trauma and unrest--as deep as it can be, as overwhelming as it is-- the message is, I cry to You night and day. The depth of His compassion, ultimately, always will win. Whether in this life, in this age or in the next, it always wins! You've got the beginning of this Psalm saying, I feel like I've got nothing left. Let's go to the next few verses and let's overlay it with Jacob's experience. Jacob's life was in the balance that night.

It was either live or die. There was no in between. Either live or die. Lose my family, lose everything precious to me or I'm delivered somehow. He holds on. He holds on because he needs answers. I don't know what to do. I'm not letting go. Folks, this is one of the messages in Psalm 88 that may not jump out at you, but the whole point of Psalm 88 is he's talking to God, and by the fact that the psalmist is talking to God expressing how bad it is, shows you the importance of holding on the way Jacob did. Psalm 88:4-7:

[Jonathan] (42:38 - 43:05) "I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no help, cast off among the dead, Like the slain that lie in the grave, whom Thou rememberest no more, and they are cut off from Thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah."

[Rick] (43:05 - 44:07) You have afflicted me. You've laid me into this pit. You see how this despair is so overwhelming. The Psalmist is saying, God I feel like I'm as good as dead before You. I'm like a lifeless piece of driftwood, tossed about by the waves of Your ocean. A piece of driftwood gets banged about. It eventually gets pulled apart and becomes nothing. If you pick up a piece of driftwood most of its substance is gone. It's really light and he's saying, I'm like that. I'm being beaten about by your waves. I don't have anything. When you look at that, and when you feel those experiences, the thing to remember is--as we go before God, you see the honesty here? God, You put me here to have the courage to be honest enough to express what we see and what we feel--is the beginning of this whole ability to understand and cope. We need to learn Resting in Our Wrestling:

[Julie] (44:08 - 44:15) Even though I'm in an impossible darkness, I am beyond my ability to comprehend why, but even though that's true, I still cry out to You. That's important.

[Rick] (44:15 - 45:03) That's the key, is to still cry out. I don't have an answer. I don't know an answer, I don't even expect an answer anymore; but I still cry out. That is the despair of this Psalm. When you look at Jacob's experience, you can see how his despair caused him to hold on in great pain and anguish. God, I'm not letting go!

I need you now! You still don't know what's going to happen because it's still dark, but he still hangs on. Let's move forward a little bit. Jacob's tenacious holding on throughout the night, throughout all of those hours, and the fight that he put up, those are the things that brought him the blessing! It's because he hung on enough, long enough, for the angel to say, it's time for me to go. That's what got him there. It's the night that brought the morning. Let's look at Psalm 88:8-12:

[Jonathan] (45:03 - 45:48) "Thou has put mine acquaintances far from me; thou has made me an abomination unto them..." He's saying, even my friends are gone. "...I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. Mine eye wasteth away by reason of affliction: I have called daily upon Thee, O Jehovah; I have spread forth my hands unto Thee. Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead? Shall they that are deceased arise and praise Thee? Selah. Shall Thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Thy faithfulness in destruction?

Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark? And Thy righteousness in the land of the forgetfulness?"

[Julie] (45:49 - 46:16) In other words, I feel entirely alone as though all who knew me are disgraced by me. I can no longer see where you, God, are, even though I have called out to You daily.

[Rick] (46:16 - 47:03) Sometimes depression, sometimes experiences, sometimes the grief of loss, sometimes trauma can bring us to this situation that says, God, are You going to bless the grave, for goodness sakes? Is Your faithfulness in destruction? How is that even possible? This is real from the standpoint of how we feel in these experiences. But the message of this Psalm, the inevitable message, is however real it is in our personal experience, God's reality is higher and bigger and His providence is longer and stronger than what we can experience. Again, this is saying I have no hope. None. Yet the Psalmist keeps crying to God. You understand the depth of goodness in that Jacob had no hope of winning that battle with an angel. What did he do? Hung on. Was it painful? Yes.

Was he exhausted? Yes. He just hung on because there was nothing left. We need to learn Resting in Our Wrestling:

[Jonathan] (47:03 - 47:24) In my overwhelming despair and loneliness, I can still ask for You to find me. Asking opens the door to being answered.

[Rick] (47:24 - 48:30) That's what the Psalmist is doing. The Psalmist is saying, Can You give blessing where there's death? You know what the answer is? Yep, He can! Can You show faithfulness in destruction? You know what the answer is? Yes, He can, because He's beyond those things. Sometimes our experiences don't work out in this life and in our experiences. We say, why God, why? The answer is, because there's a lesson that is good for you, for eternity. We know God's plan is bigger than our moments. God's plan gives blessing and it takes the trial and the trauma and the difficulty and it says, I let you have that as a memory so that you can truly appreciate goodness and love and mercy and kindness. Now as we go to wrap this Psalm up, let's go back to Jacob. The wounded Jacob was blessed on the morning of a new day after a night of wrestling. The new day only came AFTER the night of wrestling. Psalm 88:13-17:

[Jonathan] (48:30 - 48:50) "But unto Thee, O Jehovah, have I cried; and in the morning shall my prayer come before Thee. Jehovah, why castest Thou off my soul? Why hidest Thou Thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up; while I suffer Thy terrors I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath is gone over me;

Thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me like water all the day long; they compassed me about together."

[Rick] (48:51 - 49:56) I'm surrounded. I'm drowning. I don't know what's happening, and yet in the Psalm, it said, "...O Jehovah, have I cried; and in the morning shall my prayer come before Thee." Now there's a question, and with that question is an answer. It reminds me of Cornelius, the Roman centurion who was outside of the faith, but was faithful to God. When it came time for him to be converted to Christianity, he had a vision and in that vision the angel said, Your prayers have gone up as a memorial before God. You have not been answered yet, but now you will be! That was the experience with Jacob. Now you will be, after the night of wrestling, after the difficulty, after the struggle. This Psalm is showing us,

this is real to me. This is my reality. Let's not forget, that as with Jacob, our reality is founded in the goodness of God's providence. It's bigger. We just can't see it.

Jacob couldn't see it. What could he do? Hang on. Just hang on. We need to learn to Rest as We Wrestle:

[Julie] (49:57 - 50:09) In other words, I'm hopeless, and yet the darkness of my night can, even beyond my blind despair, be brought to you in the morning. We can hold on until the morning.

[Rick] (50:09 - 51:02) When the morning came and the angel blessed him, then he was able to put things together and go forth and meet his brother and see God's blessing unfold. I imagine that as he was walking towards his brother and bowing down and getting up, he was limping. All the way he was limping, and probably in great pain, but it didn't stop him because the pain of the night and the difficulty equaled the blessing of God. That's where we want to be. Jacob's wrestling led him to being able to fulfill what was required of him. Folks, it's the wrestling, the holding on for dear life and the not knowing, that can lead us to the growth and the strength needed to do and deal with what God puts before us. Our final scripture is looking at Jacob's life once again, as God speaks to him once again. Genesis 35:9-12:

[Jonathan] (51:02 - 51:31) "Then God appeared to Jacob again...and He blessed him. God said to him, Your name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him,

I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you."

[Rick] (51:31 - 51:59) God's word is unbreakable! It was given twenty years before. There were testings where you couldn't see God at all, there is a night of wrestling where you have no idea what's going to happen and here's the end result: I am blessing you because you are Mine! That's how we need to look at our wrestling experiences when we wrestle with God. Personal Restlessness and Wrestling With God:

[Jonathan] (51:59 - 52:15) Wrestling with God opens our minds and our hearts to going beyond where we are right now. Wrestling with God can therefore be an integral part of our growth as Jesus' disciples. Growth means not staying the same.

[Julie] (52:15 - 52:28) Jacob grew into humble submission to God after a lifetime sprinkled with trouble and deception. Let us hold on to God's teachings with this Jacob-like tenacity so that we too can walk away blessed!

[Rick] (52:28 - 53:23) Isn't that the point? The point is to be able to walk away blessed, but sometimes you can't walk away blessed until you go through the hardship of the dark night of not knowing what's going to happen, not knowing where you're going to go, not knowing how it's going to unfold and being scared beyond comprehension. Yet in all of those things, God was there for Jacob and God can be there for us if we put Him first. Through Christ, let's follow the scriptural principles that always put God first. Let's wrestle with God to hold on so we can too receive a blessing! Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up in our next episode: "Was Phillip Miraculously Transported by the Spirit?"

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