26/07/2026
Jacob Wrestles With God
Genesis 32:22-32
22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
The story of Jacob wrestling the angel is intriguing. Jacob is not really a nice fellow. He seems to be conniving, a go-getter who uses people to get ahead without the slightest regard for their circumstances or feelings. Jacob has tricked, lied and manipulated his way through life. Even in the above passage, he’s looking out for number one, an opportunity to gain, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” But we need to be careful not to dismiss Jacob and make ourselves resistant to what this story can teach us.
In a way we need to admire Jacob’s persistence. He wrestles all night with the unknown man on that riverbank. Jacob is no doubt exhausted and the man has put Jacob’s hip socket out of joint but he still hangs on.
Limping, exhausted, hanging on for dear life. Sometimes this is what the Christian life is like. Sometimes “winning’ involves nothing more sophisticated than not giving up. Sometimes, the spiritual life is about little more than clinging to a God who seems mysterious and bewildering, as we feel battered and bruised, but still hoping for that blessing. We can’t say, “I want that blessing but not the limp.” We should recognize that if we want to engage with God, then we must expect that we will be changed in the process – and not always in ways that are painless or comfortable or easy. Sometimes the wrestling process will be messy and exhausting and life changing. This can be challenging to those of us who think our relationship with God must be smooth and comfortable all the time. It doesn’t.
The God of Jacob, in fact delights in those who engage with him and strive with him. The opposite of loving God is not caring enough to fight. Wrestling with God protects us against spiritual apathy, even if we are just holding on. It is in those dark places before dawn, we discover more of God. Where we learn more about our true selves. Where we are blessed, even if we leave limping.
