Genesis 32:25 -28 “Winning by Losing”

OUTLINE: Genesis 32:22-32

1.      32:22-24   Wrestling with God

2.      32:25  The  Touch of God that Hurts  and Heals

3.      32: 26-28    Winning by Losing

4.      32:29-32    Reaching the Place of Blessing

26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

We are considering this pivotal  portion of Scripture in some  greater detail. Jacob has left his uncle Laban, having been with him 20 years, in order that he may return to his own country – the  land of covenant promise. On the eve of meeting his brother Esau (a dreaded encounter), Jacob has an even greater encounter with God. In this we have seen Jacob wrestling with God, though it takes him a while to recognise that he is not just  wrestling with a man, but with God.  Jacob’s fears of what lies ahead  provide a significant obstacle,  and he fights  his antagonist  until daybreak.  At this stage, his antagonist simply touches his hip, and dislocates it.  Jacob now being disabled, instantly understands that he is in the hands of God,  and that he  must not enter  into the unknown without God’s blessing.   One of the reasons  that I wanted us to  dwell for a little while  on this passage  is  that Christians do not  always  make a careful distinction  between the trials that God  brings  upon them, and the  trials  and sufferings they may encounter  as a result of  giving into the flesh, the world and the devil. We are now talking about the fatherly work of God, as He so frequently must wrestle us down to get us into the right kind of   thinking.  In that process   He uses pain to heal us. We learn to win by losing.   Pain is God’s megaphone to get our attention (C.S. Lewis)

We have often said that biblical logic confounds people.  Our often so superficial human logic tells us that bad things cannot come to us from a good God, but biblical  logic  turns that thought on its head. Perhaps the profoundest   illustration of this fact is  the cross of Christ.  What good can come from a crucified Messiah?  Well the Bible  tells  us  that   what  men meant for evil by  crucifying the Lord of glory  has become  a glorious victory  for God’s people! The Lord Jesus won by losing His life!  The apostle Paul  says that  he gained  everything in Christ, by  losing  his  former reputation as a Pharisee (Phil 3:4-11).

The story of Jacob’s wrestling with the angel of God is also such a story. And it doesn’t come to us naturally.  It took Jacob quite a while before he  had understood  that  this wrestling match   against this perceived  man (an enemy of the mind),  - that this wrestling  was actually to  become  a  source of blessing and  spiritual growth   for him.  We had made the observation  two weeks ago that  so very often  we are  having battles in our minds with people,  when  in reality that battle is  actually  with God,  who leading this charge to subdue  us and to bless us.  This was   my experience in 1985,  when I  struggled for at least  6 months   with my work  and circumstances,   before I realized  that God  was  struggling with me to get me to the place where  I would submit to the call to enter  the  full-time pastoral ministry. Once I did that  with the blessing of Eastside’s  pastor,  Charles Whitson and members,  I entered  theological  seminary in 1986.  Whilst studying,  I  did internships  at Mowbray Baptist Church and later  at Bellville Baptist Church, before accepting the call to Eastside Baptist Church in  1990. That call to Eastside was  also preceded by a short period of intense wrestling as  I needed to  discern what God’s will for my life was.

It may take us a   while (and sometimes only with hindsight)   to see that our circumstances and “co-incidences”   are really “God-incidences”.   God, in His sovereign wisdom allows us to wrestle with Him  to the point of exhaustion,  so that we may truly learn to let go  of our own  plans and ideals, embracing His sovereign  plan  and leading.   This wrestling may continue short or long, yet  when it comes, it comes  suddenly  and decisively – and with the slightest of touches. You will know about it. In an instant, a short moment, Jacob has been transformed from what appears to be a wrestler of equal  status  into a  helpless  worm, and instantly his perspective changes. He learns to win by losing.  

What happens now,   that he knows that he has been disabled and robbed of his own strength by God? Will he be left dangling and vulnerable? Will his  wrestling match with God just end there – as a defeat? 

No! We shall see that this wrestling contest which he loses shall actually lead him forward, as he now understands that  he must  cling to  the God-man (a perfect description of Jesus – by the way!) - clinging to him with all the strength that is left in a desperate man, and it is a good thing.  Paul learned this   precious practical doctrine,  which he  speaks about in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. In this letter he reflects upon his immense struggles as an apostle. The outcome of  his  struggles  was that he had learned to cling  to  God,  and so he confesses,  “When I am weak, then I am strong“, stated alternatively,  “I win  by losing“.  

Let this sort of thinking  guide our Christian mind, when it comes to these  moments when God is strongly at work   in wrestling  our strong self- confidences to the ground.  When He has done that, then we  must not lick our wounds in self- pity.  We must now cling to God and say to Him, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  

Will God let Jacob go without a blessing?  V. 26. “Let me go, for the day has broken…”.  But Jacob will not let God go.  He must  have his blessing.

Now remember that  God has already  blessed him. Remember that the covenantal promises   that God made to Abraham and Isaac have belonged to Jacob, from before his birth (Gen. 25).  This promise  was further  affirmed by  his father  Isaac  in Gen. 28:4: “May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”

It was confirmed to Jacob once again  in  that incredible dream in Gen. 28:13-15  when God said to Him,   “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 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.”

What other blessing does he then need?  When you are emotionally and physically   exhausted by a soul and body draining encounter, you would be typically left without strength  and the  will to continue.  At such a time you need further assurance of God’s blessing. The temptation to run away after such spiritual battles is known as the Elijah syndrome (1 Kings 17). Jacob teaches us  that following a long hard season of  wrestling we should  cling tightly to  God.  Such times of brokenness and  exposures of weakness need   more  assurance  from  God  in terms of His covenantal love and blessing.  This is what  Jacob did, and the prophet Hosea   in Hosea 12 :3, 4  puts it  like that: 

3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favour. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us...  

Hosea tells us   that Jacob  clung to God with weeping, asking him  to  meet him with favour!  Truly this was  the hour of Jacob’s inward defeat. He had  lost the wrestling  match. He has now  learned who was truly Master of his life, and He held on to Him. Yes, he has lost the contest, but he knows now that  winning  means  clinging  more on to God –  or to use NT language , abiding in Christ (John 15)- and thus more fruitfulness.

But do we realize what we are asking, when we are asking God to bless us, and show us more of Himself?   

James and John did not know what they were asking when they asked Jesus that they might be blessed by sitting next to him in glory (Mk.  10:35-40). Jesus said to them,  “You do not know what you are asking“  (Mk. 10:38).  The truth is this;   having more of God  and more of His blessing  means  to have  less  of our old  Jacob in us.  That is why ultimately Jacob (‘heel catcher’/ deceiver) must receive a new name:  Israel  (he strives with /clings to God).  This is the sanctifying work of God, and it is  all about wrestling us down. It is painful as we must grow less dependent upon our own  abilities  and rest more in His ability. But, take heart!

THE INCREDIBLE GRACE OF GOD

See with what incredible grace God handles Jacob. He asks him a question.  What is your name? This is not for God’s benefit. He knows everything about Jacob. This is for Jacob’s benefit.  The name of a man was expressive of a person’s birth circumstances  and  character.  And so God asks, “Who are you?" Jacob answers,“I am Jacob  the heel catcher, the  deceiver,…”. And God answers, “Your name shall no longer be  called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 

In  telling his name Jacob  is made to face himself, and his past. But  this is not where he gets stuck. Jacob is now helped to see that  his destiny is not rooted in the past, but in the present work of God. He is now  called “Israel“ -  The name means  ‘he strives with God‘  (the ‘el’ ending  denotes the Hebrew name for God).

This is the great turning point of the story of Jacob. Please note that the name Jacob does not fall away entirely.  This name  keeps on appearing  in the rest  of  OT Scripture, and  this is true for our fallen natures. We never get quite rid of our old man,  until Jesus  comes  and  first progressively delivers us from the presence of sin, and finally  at our glorification He delivers us also from the presence of sin. 

Sometimes people have felt that this story is the story of Jacob’s conversion. No!  Firstly,  we have seen that God had already  chosen  Jacob in eternity. He has already communicated  his covenant promises to him. Then there  was   the first  experiential encounter with God  in the 28^th  chapter, at Bethel. And now here  at Peniel ..."I have seen God face to face..."  (Gen. 32:30), there  was another  milestone of  Jacob’s walk with God and of  God’s work in him. This is  a picture of the  great saving work of God in its totality. And in  NT  terms we would say  that he  has been  brought into greater conformity  with  Christ.  He gained more  of  God  by losing more of himself!

APPLICATIONS  

1.              Expect crisis experiences in your walk with God.  God uses these  to progressively cleanse and sanctify you.  

2.               The way up is the way down. We  win by losing.

3.        Learn to look at life spiritually; be particularly sensitive to times of spiritual difficulty and always ask, “What is God doing?” Consider God always as the FIRST CAUSE of your experience.

4.         Remind yourself  of the fact that if God is the FIRST CAUSE of your experience (and not merely the result of wicked men – such as  was the experience  of Jacob’s  son, Joseph when he was sold into slavery by his brothers)- then you are in good hands.

5.           Such experiences ultimately  provide  you  with the best form  of  assurance that God loves you. God disciplines those whom he loves (Hebr.12). He is treating you as sons.

6.            Expect God to change you  into His image. Jacob  becomes Israel.  John Newton: “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am”.  

7.               Remember  that God’s method is  helping you to win  confidence in Him  by first  making you lose confidence in your own ability. Do not be disturbed if this experience  does not agree with modern thinking.  This is a true biblical experience. It is the winning way.