Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1679

March 30, 2025

Genesis 32.22-32           Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“To Strive With God”

 

 The same night he [Jacob] arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 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.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

 

• A Very “Jewish” Passage

 

My first bullet point today might seem a little strange since all of the Bible was God breathed through Jewish authors. Some quibble over a few of them, but the Bible is predominately Jewish which makes my outline point a little redundant. Genesis 32 is very “Jewish”. By that I mean that it is not terribly clear as to the identity of the opponent. It is courageously poignant as to confronting God in such a manner of wrestling. It is mysterious enough to interpret in a multitude of directions. It’s got chutzpah. Chutzpah is a Yiddish term which includes audacity and impudence. This passage pushes the boundaries of what we normally think about the things of God and the Bible. As some define chutzpah, it is being bold with flair! Chutzpah is being willing to take a risk, even risking how one approaches God. Chutzpah can be a positive or a negative trait depending on how it is displayed. It is certainly attributed to Jewish culture and sometimes stereotypes. https://www.masaisrael.org/chutzpah/

Most Christians are devoid of chutzpah because we have learned to be more pious, reserved, and “nice” before the Lord. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can lack something in our relationship with the Lord that is included in Scripture. Genesis 32 is just such a story to teach us to gain a bit more chutzpah, more nerve, more capacity to strive with God as Jacob did. To strive with God is to contend with God, to endure, to persist in whatever encounter we might have. The most prominent way we might strive with God is through prayer. Jesus even teaches us to be persistent in prayer like the women who kept after the judge until he relented to help (Luke 18.1-8)

 

And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

 

Dare we say that one measure of faith is the willingness to continue relentlessly in prayer and to not lose heart?

 Scripture shows that the very name of Israel affords and even invites that God’s people wrestle or struggle with God. Many Christians think this is irreverent and therefore inappropriate behavior before the Lord. Granted, the majority of the Bible shows the reverence we need before God. It is the meaning behind fear of the Lord, to show reverence. But that is not the only behavior available to us! God does not discipline or scold those who “stand toe to toe with God”, in fact this passage in Genesis 32 shows that God may give a blessing when we strive with Him. Abraham had a similar encounter with God in Genesis 18.23-32, So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Christians tend to gravitate toward the fear of the Lord, the reverence of God, and we shy away or avoid altogether any attempts to wrestle or struggle or haggle with God. Another reference I recommend you look to is when Moses strives with God over the rebellion of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 32.7-14).

 Lament Psalms are another example of this struggle. Anger can be expressed, frustration, pleading with God to wake up and do something! Psalm 44.23-26 a classic example: Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

And if we think, well that’s just Old Testament stuff, dare I say consider Jesus sweating it out in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, or Paul seeking the Lord to take away the “thorn in his side”. Lament is also expressed to a lesser extent, Jesus weeping for Jerusalem (Matthew 23.37) or Paul over his fellow Jews (Romans 9.2-3). Suffice it to say that we may need to gain some chutzpah in order to strive in prayer with God.

In the words of one modern Orthodox rabbi: “Judaism encourages doubt even as it enjoins faith and commitment. A Jew dare not live with absolute certainty, because certainty is the hallmark of the fanatic and Judaism abhors fanaticism, and because doubt is good for the human soul, its humility...God had His own reasons for denying us certainty with regard to His existence and nature. One apparent reason is that man’s certainty with regard to anything is poison to the soul. Who knows better that moderns who have had to cope with dogmatic Fascists, Communists, and even scientists” (from The Condition of Jewish Belief).

Just so you know that I know, we need to be careful in striving with God, as Isaiah warns, “Woe to him who strives with Him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? Isaiah 45.9

Interesting side note: Dennis Prager speaks of the difference between being a Muslim and a Jew. Islam means “submit to God”, but Israel means “struggle with God”. His conclusion as to why he would rather be a Jew than a Muslim is that he would rather struggle with God than submit to God. This is somewhat foreign to our thinking as Christians. We talk all the time about submission and obedience and assurance of faith and terms like these, and rightly so. But as we saw a moment ago, there is room in our relationship with God to fear Him and to struggle with Him. Jacob spent the night in the struggle. And yet, I think it was deep fear and reverence that also sought a blessing.

 

• Alone in the Dark

 

Jacob’s story, at the beginning of this particular night, is a story of assault, Jacob is attacked in the darkness. We are not sure, at first, who has come. Some have suspected it is his brother Esau as they were to meet the next day. Jacob cheated Esau out of his birthright, his inheritance from their father Isaac. The story just says it was a man who came in the night and wrestled with Jacob. The story is crafted in such a way to leave the identity of the man a mystery, just as things often are in the night when we cannot see very well – like a dream when we are unsure what is real.

Dreams are often a mystery like this, we know that someone is there, we may even feel familiarity with the person but we cannot quite determine who it is. Such an experience with dreams has lead many to suspect this encounter was a dream. Like so many people in the Bible, dreams become very significant events. Whether we settle on the story as dream or not is not so important, but what happens in the story brings something to our own faith journey.

The interpretation may be wide open. Is this a dream? A real physical encounter with God? At first the identity of the man is not revealed, but as the story goes on, Jacob thinks it is God. The identity of the man, or lack of, leaves room for wonder, interpretation, and imagination. Who is this wrestler? Jacob thinks it must be God as we see in the final analysis. He names the place – Peniel which means “face of God.

 

• What is Your Name?

 

It is not long before the match comes to a standstill. There is no referee to break them up to start anew. The man touched Jacob’s hip and knocks it out of joint. I can only imagine that this is when Jacob realizes that he is wrestling with God. Jacob then seeks a blessing. No name is given, but God gives a name change for Jacob. Now he will be Israel because he has striven with God and prevailed or at least came to a draw.

In my opinion wrestling is the most difficult sport there is in terms of strength, determination, and endurance. It is strength against strength, move against move, not like the WWE wrasslin’, but real wrestling on a mat with no ropes to spring from for fake take downs!

What is it like to wrestle with God? Can you imagine such a struggle? We think of our relationship with God in terms of love, peace, security, mercy, and faith – but wrestling is not our first thought. In my high school days during the off season of football, the team would do off-season training. We did not simply run and lift weights, but we had what we affectionately called Jr. Varsity Wrestling. We had no Jr. Varsity wrestling team, but we did have a varsity team and several football players who wrestled on that team. Each week we would gather around a mat in a small room, 50 or so players and the coach would call out two names and the two players would go at it, wrestling until one was pinned or they were both exhausted. One of the running backs, who was a good friend of mine, was also a state champion caliber wrestler. I feared most being paired with him because in the first ten to twenty seconds I was either pinned or in so much pain that I limped away looking for a bag of ice. Having been through such an experience, I still cannot imagine what it must have been like for Jacob to wrestle with God and come away with only a limp, but more so, with a blessing!

 

• To Strive With God

 

What would it mean for us to wrestle with God? Are we not in some way wrestling when we are in crisis mode and seeking God to intervene? Are we not struggling with God when we pray over and over again for a particular request? My thoughts sometimes go to God in the prayer, “Lord, this ain’t right. You need to do something about this!” Whatever injustice is seen, whatever need that is not met, whatever loss that is premature, in those kinds of situations we might strive with God for answers in prayer. What does this story say about prayer? About relationship with God? About questions that come up for us in Scripture?

I think it is not too much to suggest that as Jacob struggled with issues in his life he also struggled with God because God meets us in the midst of our struggles in life. Too often we get so caught up in the struggle that we fail to see that God is right there with us. In this Bible story, God is with Jacob; God literally has to pick a fight with Jacob to get his attention. Jacob’s deep-seated guilt, his struggle over his troubled past, his regrets, whatever brought on this wrestling match, the encounter was initiated by the God who was with him.

We all have things we would like to resolve, or forget, or get settled somehow. Wrestling with God may come in the form of dreams, or in prayer, or in study, or in the anxiety of an experience. Our wrestling may be a verbal exchange, an emotional bout, a spiritual dilemma, a dream, a nightmare, or a physical encounter that leaves us limping home. The point is that it is God with whom we should be wrestling. It is God who will bless us, strive with us to resolve an issue, and teach us a little bit of chutzpah.

One thing we know already is that God brings a new identity to us in Jesus Christ. God gives to us, like he did with Jacob, a new vision, new perspective, a new name, that is, a new identity. Such a life is symbolized in our baptism, the sacrament where God claims us as His own. Now we are God’s people because God has washed us clean, claimed us as His own, and called us by name. Along with a new identity, there is also the danger of a new limp! Blessings are sometimes received through suffering. The book of Romans teaches that, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (5:1-5). Life with God is not without pain, suffering, and wrestling matches. But we might think about extending our wrestling to include wrestling with God’s word. Sometimes we may avoid the Scripture because a serious reading threatens to change us, to produce a limp in our comfortable status quo lifestyle. Jacob’s story leaves plenty of room for interpretation. It is a story often realized in our own struggles where God is present – wounding, healing, naming, calling, and bringing us through and beyond our current depth of faith and understanding. May we have the courage to wrestle with God, like Jacob, and risk newness, risk change, risk limping into a blessing from God. Amen.