“And Jacob said, ‘Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” -Genesis 32: 11-23
In this momentous scene in the beginning of the Bible, we see a few things playing out. Jacob has been given the birthright blessing that, according to culture at the time, should’ve been given to his older twin brother Esau. But because God had said, “The older shall serve the younger,” the birthright and the blessing of being the firstborn son has been given to Jacob. But Jacob, like all of us at times, is unable to rest in what God has already done for him. He falls victim to fear and unbelief. He fears his brother Esau, who is approaching him in the desert with 400 men. “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels into two camps, thinking, ‘If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.’”
Jacob, acting out of fear, tried to think his way out of the predicament by using chess-board logic. “If he does that, I’ll make this move instead.” But God isn’t interested in our chess-board logic. He wants to deal with the root issue in our hearts. So what does God do in the face of Jacob’s fear, his anxiety, and his distress? He doesn’t speak soothing words, or give him a soft pillow on which to lay his head. Instead, He wrestles with him.
It seems like a weird story, but it’s so beautiful when you think about what a gift and a blessing the struggle was for Jacob. Jacob was afraid of Esau, living in the dark night of the soul. But the LORD met him in a wrestling match — not with comfort or pleasure, but actually with a fair amount of pain. After all, Jacob limped for the rest of his life. And Jacob’s life was forever changed, because God gave him something even better than his immediate need.
God gave Jacob a new name, a new identity. His new name is “Israel,” which means “He strives with God.” And more importantly, God used the new identity He gave to Jacob to keep the covenant promise He made to Abraham to establish the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. And Abraham was just a foreshadowing of Jesus, who would make a greater nation of people than Abraham — the Church, which we who are in Christ are now a part of.
We think God will always show us His love in the ways we most desire. But that wasn’t the case for Jacob. God could’ve just destroyed Esau’s army. But that wouldn’t have dealt with the fear in Jacob’s heart. So God wrestled with him and Jacob’s life was changed forever.
James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
God truly does make and keep His promises in the most amazing ways. And when we feel like wrestling with God, we can have assurance that on the other side of the wrestling is the blessing: the blessings of knowing we are His children, He is our Good Father, and He is always working for our joy, to make us steadfast and complete.
(Credit to Erik Miller, for his sermon series on Genesis 12-32)