Ralph Porter

© 2003

    Why are we always trying to earn God's blessing by our own efforts? When faced with a challenging situation, we take matters into our own hands--use whatever means are at our disposal to work things out for ourselves. We scheme and manipulate, claw and connive, to get our own way.

    Even people that we would normally identify with godliness have a tendency to attempt to manipulate people and circumstances to come out the way we want them to! That's the kind of person Jacob was.

    Jacob is listed among the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. God even identifies with him down through history. He is known as the God of Jacob! But, at the same time, . . .

    He was pretty clever, pretty crafty. He cleverly outwitted his brother twice. He eventually outwitted Laban, getting rich at his expense. He was named for that ability: "the schemer", "the deceiver", the manipulator. This characteristic was no surprise to God. That was his natural response to pressure.

    Until one day he ran into an adversary he couldn't manipulate, he couldn't out-scheme, and he couldn't defeat. "The heel grasper," "the deceiver," the schemer, the cheat was transformed that day into "the overcomer"--the one who was victorious with God! God transforms Jacob from a "deceiver" into an "overcomer" with God.

    What changed him? Jacob came to the end of himself. He's in a mess he can't control; he's not sure what to do about it. In the midst of his desperate situation, Jacob came face-to-face with God.

First encounter with God   Gen. 28:10-22

    Jacob's first encounter with God occurs on his way to Uncle Laban's house. He is in a barren wasteland, at Bethel (28:10-15). God appears to him there and promises His presence and His protection. God promises: "I am with you!" "I will watch over you wherever you go." "I will bring you back to this land."

    Jacob responds appropriately to God's promise (28:16-22). He suddenly realizes that God is there with him, in his barren wilderness. He sees a ladder reaching from heaven down to earth. God is sending messengers from His heavenly throne to Jacob's barren wilderness, to care for him! Even this barren wilderness is God's place, and He is with him! Awesome!

    Jacob responds to God's revelation and promise by affirming that if God actually does what He told him He would do, then "Yahweh will be my God!" For the first time he expresses his own personal faith in Yahweh. He builds a memorial there and he worships Him. The revelation of God's presence and blessing inspires him to worship.

Second encounter with God   Gen. 32:22-32

    Jacob's second encounter with God comes on the way home from Uncle Laban's house. Jacob has been there for twenty years, hiding from Esau. Now he's on his way home, knowing that he going to have to face Esau. Any moment he'll come face to face with a brother who wants to kill him. Again he's afraid.

    Jacob comes up with elaborate schemes to manipulate Esau and win him back. He's up to his old tricks, doing what he's always done best: scheming! Motivated by fear, Jacob seeks to pacify Esau (32:20). He sends his family on ahead, to the other side of the river (32:22-23). Deep down inside he fears what will happen if the schemes don't work. He makes provision for his family's protection, sending them across the river, in case something happens to him. Then he stays behind, where he can be alone. Now he finds himself all alone (32:24a). Suddenly Jacob meets an adversary he didn't prepare for; someone he can't defeat!

    In Jacob's struggle two main things occur (32:24-30). After prolonged struggle, the Assailant applies a supernatural blow. God touched the wrestler's strongest muscle, and it shriveled. His carnal weapons were lame and useless. With that, his persistent self-confidence shriveled as well. This was a battle Jacob could never win. Jacob the deceitful fighter was in the hands of Someone he could neither outsmart, nor defeat--One against Whom it was useless to struggle.

1.   Jacob was crippled   32:24b-25

    From this point forward, Jacob bears a perpetual reminder of his struggle with God--a reminder of his own weakness--of his inability to "pull it off" himself, in his own strength. His struggle took a new direction; crippled in his own strength, he became bold in faith. He clung to his adversary tenaciously to receive divine blessing.

    Jacob's encounter with God raises some interesting issues. Apparently God revealed Himself to Jacob in ordinary human form. The scene is similar to previous encounters between Abraham and "men," one of whom was God himself. Jacob thought he could handle this situation the way he handled others. He was very capable of handling the challenge of dealing with other men. Few had ever taken Jacob's challenge and won.  Apparently God allows Jacob to prevail, at least to the point of staying even with Him all night long. However, in the end, God leave His mark, and Jacob bears a perpetual reminder of his inability to outmaneuver God.

2.   Jacob was blessed and renamed   32:26-30

    A second thing happened as a result of wrestling with God. God blessed Jacob and he received a new name. When God touched his hip, Jacob realized Whom He's struggling with. Maybe he just realized that no normal human was tenacious enough to stay with him that long, much less get best of him.

    In sheer determination, Jacob was not going to let this moment escape without receiving God's blessing. (He was pretty good at getting blessings! Ask Esau!)

    Before blessing him, God asks him his name. Jacob has to reveal his name. In using his name, Jacob is forced to confess something about his character as well. Remember that the first time he got a blessing, Isaac didn't know the real name of the one he was blessing. That wasn't going to happen this time! God knew exactly who he was! He had to be transformed to receive God's blessing.

    After giving his old name, and thereby acknowledging the problem of his character, God gives him a new name--an indication of the fact that God has changed his character. Jacob's new name becomes "Israel." The description given to Jacob is later affixed to the people that descends from his seed as well. The name probably means "God fights." Jacob had learned to fight for himself all his life. Now he learns that God is a fighter--One he will never beat! God fights for Israel also. That's why he overcomes.

    Jacob's new name indicates that this is an encounter he wins. God specializes in transforming deceitful schemers into overcomers. Did he win because he overpowered God? No. He wins because he clings to God and God chooses to bless him.

    Jacob asks his opponent his name (32:29). This question needs no answer. It's irrelevant. But Jacob already knows who the Assailant is.

    The real significance of the event is revealed in the name Jacob gives to the place where it occurs. Jacob names it: "Peniel," which means "The Face of God" (32:30). He saw the face of God and was saved. The New International Version adds: "yet", giving the idea that He saw God's face, and in spite of it was spared from being consumed. The normal assumption is that no one sees God's face and lives to tell about it. That is a logical understanding to apply to the statement.

    However, the original text only has "and" "I saw God face to face and I was spared!" Another meaning for Jacob's statement is possible. Remember why he stayed there. He was desperate. The next day he had to face Esau, and might assume that he would be destroyed. At least that's the fate he feared. Esau was a great hunter and had already affirmed that he was going to kill Jacob.

    Would it happen? No! Why? Because of God's face! He saw God face to face and was saved from the expected fate. Jacob had called to God earlier. Once he was free of Laban, follow his journey:

    31:53-55   May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father,

        judge between us." So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father

        Isaac. 54 He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to

        a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there. 55 Early the next

        morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then

        he left and returned home.

    32:1-2   Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw

        them, he said, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.

    32:9-12   Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O

        LORD, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make

        you prosper,' 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown

        your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become

        two groups. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid

        he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you

        have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the

        sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"

    Jacob didn't get himself out of this mess. The face of God spared him! Having seen God face to face, Jacob could now face Esau, a mere man, without fear! Jacob's story is the struggle of someone who deceived others to get his own way! Jacob always manipulated other people to get his own way!

    Because he was guilty, he feared his brother, and God was His adversary. Face to face with God, his scheming weapons were useless! God incapacitated him. When he struggled for God's blessing, God promised that, and resolved the issue which caused him to fear man. His struggle with God gave victory with both God AND man.

    Do we get the point? God's victory doesn't come by human might, not by human power, but by God's Spirit (Zech. 4:6). That was a lesson Israel often had to be reminded of! If we are to accomplish what God wants, it must be by faith in Him, not by our struggle to make it happen. If we keep trying to "pull it off" ourselves, God will eventually bring us to the place where we can't possibly win, so we will have to cling to Him.

    Why do we wait until God brings us to desperation? Why don't we just decide to cling now and avoid the pain? God let's us go that way for a while, but eventually He will bring on an adversary we can't beat, so we will learn to cling to Him. The appropriate response is to grab hold of God and insist we won't let go until He blesses us!

    Why are we so slow to learn? How long will it take? What kind of circumstance will God have to bring into OUR lives before we realize we can't pull it off by ourselves? Before we stop trying to control everything and everybody for our own good? Before we grab hold of HIM and say "I WON'T LET GO UNTIL YOU BLESS ME?"

    When Jacob decided to cling to God, and saw Him face to face, God transformed his character. He changed him from a schemer into a victor!

    That's how it works for us too, when we cling to God when we see Him face to face, as He is, God changes our character into the image of His Son. That's not the result of our attempt to change ourselves. That's God's work in our life! Will we stop trying to pull it off ourselves and cling to Him, so that He can bring about the transformation of our character that we so desperately need, and that will bring glory to Him?