Have you ever wrestled with God, crying out for justice, begging God to explain your grief or suffering? That seems to be the same sort of thing Jacob was doing in today’s passage. He was heading back to the land where his father and brother were living, but he had deceived them both, stealing his father’s blessing and his brother’s birthright. Esau had promised to kill him (Genesis 27:41), and now that Esau was coming to meet him, Jacob had good reason to think that the 400 men coming with him did not have peaceful intentions (Genesis 32:6).

And so Jacob planned a gift for Esau, perhaps thinking that an extravagant present would appease his anger (Genesis 32:13-21). Jacob also hedged his bets by dividing what he planned to keep into two companies – if Esau’s men found one, perhaps they would leave the other alone (Genesis 32:7-8). In short, Jacob did what little he could to deal with the expected onslaught. But he knew it wasn’t enough.

And so he was finally driven to prayer – the first prayer of his that is recorded in the Scripture (Genesis 32:9-12). In this prayer, he says all the right things – he relies on God’s promises, he acknowledges God’s blessings and admits his unworthiness to receive them. But right after the prayer was over, he went right back to his scheming ways. It’s as if the prayer didn’t really change anything for Jacob. He was still trying to manipulate other people to solve his own problems, trying to handle things on his own.

No, Jacob needed the same thing that we all need: an encounter with God. And so God showed up in a physical form, wrestling with Jacob all night long. And as the morning broke, God broke Jacob, dislocating his hip so that he couldn’t wrestle anymore. And yet, even though Jacob could not force God to do his will, even though Jacob had obviously lost control of everyone and everything in his life, even though he no longer had any leverage to manipulate anyone else, Jacob kept on clinging to God. He would not let God go until he received a blessing (Genesis 32:26)

It was only then that God said Jacob had prevailed (Genesis 32:28). And that’s the only way any of us can prevail in the face of the overwhelming circumstances of our own lives. For we’ll never be able to understand it all. We’ll never be able to control it all. There’s no way we can lie or deceive or manipulate our way out of the messes we’ve gotten ourselves into. All we can do is cling to God. All we can do is beg for a blessing. And the good news is that, by God’s grace, all we can do is all we need to do.

Genesis 32:22-32 (NASB)

22 Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23 And he took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.
24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
25 And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
28 And he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
29 Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.