Bible Readings
Reading 23: God wrestles with Jacob
Read Genesis 32:22–32.
This is a fascinating event in Jacob’s life. So far, we’ve seen Jacob’s life struggles. We’ve witnessed him scheming and deceiving, and we’ve seen him being deceived in return. But now we see an unusual event that pictures how Jacob’s life has been.
The passage begins with Jacob sending his family across the river to keep them safe from his upcoming encounter with his brother Esau. Then he spends the night alone. But a man appears and wrestles with Jacob all night! Who is this man?
Jacob realises that the man is God Himself and he clings to Him, refusing to let go. The “man” then merely touches Jacob on the hip and dislocates it. Then the “man” changes Jacob’s name. “Jacob” means “deceiver”, his name is changed to “Israel” which means “God strives”.
This man could hurt by a mere touch and he had the authority to change Jacob’s name. This tells us this is God Himself. Recall how God named what He made at creation and how He also renamed Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah to reflect the promises He was making to them.
In the same way, God was telling Jacob, now named Israel, that God would always strive for Jacob and his family because of the Abrahamic covenant promises that God made with Jacob’s grandfather.
Though Jacob had tried to succeed through underhanded ways, God demonstrated with a mere touch that Jacob’s destiny was ultimately in God’s hands. It would be God who would guide, provide and lead Jacob. God would fight for Jacob! And to reflect this reality, God changed his name to “God strives”. God would work hard for Jacob and he didn’t need to live in the way that he had.
As a result, Jacob called the place Peniel, which in Hebrew means “face of God” because he really did see, touch and even wrestle with God face to face. From that day on, Jacob limped. It would be a moment-by-moment reminder that God was far more powerful than Jacob’s scheming. It would be God’s grace and promise-keeping character that would provide for Jacob.
When Jacob was all alone that night, it was the perfect opportunity for God to meet with him. Without any distractions and at the end of his strength, God could command Jacob’s full attention. Jacob had spent his life wrestling with people—Esau, Isaac, Laban and even his wives—so it’s interesting that God came and wrestled with him as well and in fact, overpowered Jacob.
Jacob had spent his life fighting God and resisting His will but the way to work with God is through surrender. God asked Jacob, “What is your name?” Previously, when his father Isaac had asked him the same question, Jacob had lied and said, “Esau.”
But before God, he admitted who he was. Only when he faced himself and admitted to God who he really was, the deceiver, than God really worked with him. Only when he yielded to God could Jacob experience God’s grace.
It is the same for us.
When facing life challenges, often, our first response is to rely on our own resources—our wealth, our human wisdom, our connections and our schemes. We forget that our loving Father not only has all the resources we need, but He has the way forward for us.
Can we make it our instinct to run to Him for help rather than strive on our own?
Jacob did that for many years of his life and it only created one challenge after another.
But when he learned to surrender his life to God, then God could work with and through him. Rather than serving himself, Jacob learned to serve God.
Can we do likewise? Can we yield to God not only our life challenges but our life itself so that God can work with and through us?