Jacob was left alone that night. Despite being blessed with wives, children, and possessions, Jacob was seemingly unable to enjoy what God had given him. Let’s be real. He’s on the run. He most likely had no time to enjoy all these things, knowing that tomorrow He may be killed by his brother or one of his men.
-But that was his fault! He deceived his brother and father, and so he had to go on the run. He can’t complain now.-
I would agree, but what if I suggested that the reason, he was on the run was even deeper than his deceptive nature, but rather a completely different issue of how he defined what it meant to be a man.
-Okay, tell me more.-
Jacob created this idea that being a man meant being able to fool people into giving what he wanted.
-So, it IS about him being deceptive!-
Let’s go even deeper. Jacob thought that being a man was all in how he carried himself – the way he walked, talked and even dressed. To Jacob, being a man was more about perception than character. And let’s be honest. If the way you define being a man is based largely on perception, you’re going to be prone to wanting to deceive people and make them perceive you the way you wanted to be perceived.
-Ah I get you. It is more of a character or even perspective flaw, than just a guy who likes to trick people. But how will he get past this?-
Well, Jacob wasn’t going to learn how to be a real man until God put him in a situation that he couldn’t trick, deceive or connive his way out of.
Genesis 32:24-30
Alright, let’s break this down.
So, we’ve got Jacob all alone, and out of nowhere, someone has appeared and started wrestling Jacob. Remember though, this is Jacob. The same Jacob who didn’t even like going out into the country – maybe because he didn’t like the idea of getting dirty or it was too physically taxing. This is the same Jacob who would always try to trick and scheme his way out of things. And now, this same Jacob is wrestling and oversized opponent all night long.
If Jacob were to fall in line with all we know of him, he’d probably cry, whine and beg the man to leave him alone. He’d promise the man riches and blessings. The Jacob of old would probably offer up Leah as a sacrifice (because we know he preferred Rachel anyways). But he didn’t. Jacob refused to back down. He didn’t cower. He fought for his family. He fought for his future and the blessing which God promised him.
This is how I see it. The oversized enemy was surprised by the resistance Jacob was giving. He expected this to be easy. He probably got frustrated with it and took a cheap shot. You know like when you’re play fighting with your friends and you say, “just body shots”, then one person gets frustrated and hits the other in the face.
That’s what happened to Jacob. Well not in his face, but rather “when He (the enemy) saw that He did not prevail against him (Jacob), He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.
Jacob was already tired and frightened before this fight, but now he’s also in pain.
-How is this helping Jacob get ready for his blessing?-
That night, Jacob experienced the same thing many of us experience before we fully experience God’s blessing – brokenness. God stripped Jacob of all his self-intellect, charm, money, power and influence. In just one interaction, Jacob soon learnt that all he cherished was worthless and was not enough.
Something happened to Jacob in the middle of his pain, defeat and hopelessness. He discovered this fight wasn’t about the fight itself. This battle was about way more than endurance and who would last longer between two individuals. Somewhere in the process of dislocation, being broken, embarrassed and reduced to pain, Jacob discovered a connection between his pain and God’s purposes.
-So what was it?-
My Sunday Skl 