Genesis 32 Wrestling with God

Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan, where you can grow in faith, community, and service. This message is by lead pastor Don Filsek and is a part of the series Beginning with God, Walking Through the Book of Genesis.

If you would like to contact us, please visit us on the web at recastchurch .com. Here's Pastor Don.

Jacob Faces Esau After Leaving Laban

The story of a man that's caught between a rock and a hard place. He's in a sense in the foxhole. Our man Jacob in the book of Genesis might not be the guy many of us would choose to be an example of faith.

And I love it that God chooses the man who you and I wouldn't choose to be an example of faith as an example of faith. A cheater, a swindler, a deceiver, a conniver. His name means grasper. His name literally means cheater.

But he is indeed the guy that God chose to use to set up his chosen people. And in our text this morning, we're gonna find Jacob, the man chosen by God, the man who God promised to be with him always, and he's afraid.

And I think some of us in this room can relate. When I say the word afraid, you go, I get that. I'm living that right now. Afraid for my family. I'm afraid for my job. I'm afraid for my marriage. I'm afraid for my children.

I think I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands. But I know some of you here relate to the word fear in your life right now. And in the midst of Jacob's fears, he plans. He makes some plans. And he prays.

And he plans some more. And then in the end, he ultimately comes to a place of wrestling with God. In his fear, he humbles himself, he acknowledges God, and he begs God for deliverance. And so I want you to open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32.

You can use a Bible app. You can use your own Bible if you brought one. There are Bibles on the table over here. If you don't own a Bible, you can grab one of those and just take it home with you. If you already own one, but you need to borrow one this morning, you can just return it back over there.

But it is helpful for you to have a Bible open in front of you. I'm gonna read a pretty decent chunk of Scripture here. I think it's valuable for us to read it and see it for ourselves. So I'm gonna read the entirety of Genesis chapter 32 as you follow along.

Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's camp. So he called the name of that place Mahanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, thus you shall say to my lord Esau, thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.

I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants I have sent to tell my lord in order that I may find favor in your sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are 400 men with him.

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who are with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two camp, thinking, if Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.

And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.

For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 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. So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him, he took a present for his brother Esau, 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 ewes and 20 lambs, 30 milking camels and their calves, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.

These he handed over to his servants. Every drove by itself and said to his servants, pass ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove. He instructed the first, when Esau my brother meets you and asks you, to whom do you belong?

Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you? Then you shall say, they belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau, and moreover he is behind us. He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the drove, followed the droves.

You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him. And you shall say moreover your servant Jacob is behind us, for he thought I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face.

Perhaps he will accept me. So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his 11 children and crossed the fort of the Jabbok.

He took them and sent them across the stream and everything else 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 that 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 Peniel, 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 as he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Prayer, Fear, and the God Who Guides

Let's pray as the band comes to lead us in worship this morning. Father, we come to your word, and I I've worked and I've studied. I have spent time this week trying to figure out this text and try to dig into it to provide something for these people that have gathered here, and yet in the end it's ultimately your spirit that I'm trusting to communicate this.

Father, if in the end all we do is receive some education here that's well and good, and we've learned something, and we walk away. But Father, I pray that what happens here this morning is not educational, but is transformational.

Father, that something in our heart is touched in a way that we go out and we recognize that these things about you are revealed for life change and for us to take on more faith and more understanding and particularly in this text to understand prayer more.

And that you are indeed there guiding, directing, and giving comfort and peace. And Father, I pray for those that are going through difficult times now. I know that some here, it's as if you have prepared this message for them in the sense of fear.

They are, they fear, they fear because they can't see any way to go backwards, and they can't see any way to go forwards. And so Father, I pray that you would speak peace to their hearts and their lives, those who are going through very desperate situations right now.

Fathers, we have an opportunity to praise and lift you high in song. I pray that you would make this much more than an exercise of our vocal cords, that you would make this an exercise of our hearts and praise to you in Jesus name.

Amen. Thanks a lot to the band for leading us and incorporating an awesome tambourine as well. Thanks Josh, teaching me a lesson. Last week, for those of you that weren't here, last week I made a comment about being grateful that nobody has brought their own tambourine.

So Josh brought a tambourine this week. Although it is a little bit different. When the professional musician up here brings their tambourine, so, oh there we go. Thanks Josh. No, I do want to remind you to make yourself comfortable at any time during the message if you need to get up and get more coffee or donuts or juice.

Remember out the hall clear down to the end is the restrooms, men's upstairs, women's downstairs if you need those. Some of you might just need to stand up and stretch in the back if you if you get a little bit sore in these chairs or whatever, take advantage of that.

And let's jump in. Last week we remember that Jacob fled from his father-in-law Laban and he was being chased. And he faced a military pursuit. His father-in-law came out. He had left left his father-in-law in the lurch and so God had told him to leave but the way he didn't tell him how to leave and Jacob just kind of like up and leaving your employer without any notice.

Jacob just took off. So Laban chased him down and Laban was threatening but in the end God appeared to Laban in a dream and told Laban to chill. He said take it easy. Don't get violent with Jacob. Jacob's my chosen man.

So chill out and don't don't cause any ruckus. So Laban and Jacob made a covenant of non-aggression. But in this covenant a border was set up between the two of them. Remember they set up a heap of stones each called it a name.

They made a covenant together. You don't pass over to that side. I don't pass over to this side and may God be the judge between the two of us. And so there is no turning back for Jacob now. This is a case in scripture where somebody burned a bridge.

Now some of us maybe have had bridges burned behind us. Maybe it was our choice. Maybe it wasn't but you know how that feels to not be able to go backwards anymore. And that's the way that Jacob is. Forward is the only direction for him.

Backwards is a breach of covenant with his father-in-law and they have separated ways. And so what we see in our text this morning is a classic out of the frying pan into the fire. He has left the frying pan of Laban and now but what's in front of him?

His twin brother Esau is in front of him. The one that he fled from a while ago. But immediately as Jacob turns away from Laban to continue this journey back home to his people where his twin brother was seeking his life and seeking to kill him last we knew 20 years prior to the events that we're reading.

He runs into some angels from God. Now this is obscure and unclear on multiple levels. You read it and it's probably as obscure to you as it is to me. It says he ran into some angels so he named the place Mahanaim.

A couple of different levels we don't really know what the angels said. What purpose did they serve in approaching him? What did they look like? Why were they there? The only thing that the author tells us is that angels came to Jacob.

And so keeping strictly with the text I'd like to suggest to you that angels came to Jacob. He knew they were angels. He named that place Mahanaim which means two camps. I think that there might be a little bit more to it than this but not much.

Jacob's view I believe was once more open to the reality at this crucial point in his life that there's more going on in life than just what you see. There's more than what meets the eye. What he perceives in his mind as one encampment of his people, his flocks, his family is revealed to be two camps.

His camp and the camp of God, the angelic camp that is all around him. God once again reveals to Jacob that there's more that's going on like the blinders from his eyes are peeled back from that which is only visible and he sees what's going on behind the in the invisible realm.

And just like the encounter at Bethel when he encountered the stairway to heaven, that ladder, Jacob's ladder, Jacob is surprised to find that God is there watching over him. God is still involved in his life and he's there.

Now if you were Jacob and you were on your way back home knowing what you know about the book of Genesis, knowing what we studied and some of you have been here and some of you haven't so you're not going to necessarily have a quick answer to the question but how would you be feeling heading back to see Esau, your brother?

Any of you a little bit scared? Would it be reasonable that there would be some anxiety on your part if you were in Jacob's shoes heading back to see your brother? Who had threatened to kill you? The whole reason you've been gone from home for 20 years is because your twin wanted you dead and the only consolation, the only comfort he had, the only reason he could lay his head on the pillow at night and fall asleep peacefully is the thoughts of you dead.

Okay, that's what the text told us earlier. He just he took comfort and solace in the thought of killing his brother Jacob. Sound like a good family reunion? Okay, anybody signing up to head back for that?

Probably not super excited about that. Remember that Jacob stole his twin brother Esau's inheritance and then he stole his blessing and so that's why Esau threatened to kill him and that makes this meeting that we see in our text all the more stressful as 20 years have passed.

So Jacob in his anxiety decided something wise. He says, I'm going to send out some messengers ahead of me to find out how Esau's doing. Good idea to not just be the first to meet him but send out some messengers and let him know you're on the way.

Prepare him so you don't just show up and he runs you through with a spear and that's the end of the story, right? So he sends some messengers along. He wants to be over the top in his kindness to Esau.

So you see that in the text. You see the way that he interacts through his messenger. So he calls Esau his lord, a term of a superior to, I mean an inferior to a superior. He refers to himself as Esau's servant.

He directly asks for his favor. He puts Esau in the driver's seat here. He says, you can run this meeting, okay? You can run this. I'm your servant. I am just here as, and he calls him lord, lowercase l, but a term of inferior to superior.

Jacob also informs Esau that he's become very wealthy. This is kind of crucial in one way. It's showing that he hasn't returned to steal anything from Esau. He hasn't returned to subjugate him or to bring him under his control or to conquer him as Esau might naturally think.

He wants to let him know that he is self-sufficient and he's doing okay. He's trying to win Esau over, isn't he? Some things have changed in Jacob. He wants a cordial meeting with his brother, but he has every reason to assume that this is going to be anything but a cordial meeting.

Would you agree with me on that? Does he have the right to assume the worst in this situation? That upon meeting Esau, Esau in his wrath is going to try to take him out. Now, how many of you know that it's just better to treat people kind in the first place?

That way, you don't worry about these kind of meetings. Now, some of us in reality, you go back in your past and you're like, I hope I don't run into them again, right? Or worse yet, you know, the kind of, you know, digitary communication that happens on the highway might turn out to be your next door neighbor.

They might be the ones moving in next door. So, I mean, you think about the way that you treat people, what kind of kindness you're expressing to people around. And what I'm suggesting is that the kind person has fewer conflicts.

Duh, right? Is that pretty commonsensical? Yeah. But they also have fewer causes for anxiety. There is a way to live your life that's going to produce ongoing anxiety for you. There's a way of living your life that is constantly contradictory, is constantly critiquing others, is constantly serving yourself, that is going to result in a significant level of anxiety in your life.

Are you getting what I'm saying in this? If I live my life with kindness, treating others as I would like to be treated, then I will find fewer circumstances that I'm uptight about. The chances of running into someone that's angry because I flipped them off is slim to none if I don't flip people off.

Is that right? I'm just not worried about that. If you don't do that, you're good to go, on that front at least. Is there a reality in which Jacob's fear and anxiety is his own fault? Absolutely. He cannot very well shake his fist to the heavens and say, God, why is my brother seeking my life?

Why is he trying to kill me? Why do I have this anxiety? Why am I pressed against this horrible situation in my life right now? Why have you done this, God? Does he have any justification for responding that way?

Jacob doesn't, because he knows the answer. He knows that he has brought this on himself, and he certainly is assuming the worst, right? Do you see that throughout the text? We're going to see that he assumes the worst case scenario.

And now in verse 6, the messengers return from meeting with Esau, and they have more fuel, as if Jacob wasn't already anxious enough, more fuel for Jacob's fear. Now, we see him spiraling into fear here.

Esau has told the messengers for Jacob to come back, and they say, while we were there, Esau told his regulators to mount up all 400 of them, and they are on their way. They're coming. Now, Jacob's assumption?

Imminent death. Esau has mounted up his regulators. They are riding out, and they are going to put a bullet in my head, and it's going to be over. And not only that, his fear is going to be shown here in just a moment that he's fearful for his wives and children as well.

Jacob has fear and not faith in his heart. Do you see that? Fear and not faith. Not only has God promised to be, think about what God has told Jacob, and then how he's responding. God has already said that he will be with Jacob.

He has promised to bring him safely back to the land. He has promised to give the land to him, and he pledged that his older brother would be his servant. He need not fear Esau according to the word of God.

But from a human perspective, does Jacob have anything to fear? From a human perspective, he has a lot to fear. It just goes to show that God could meet us. Sometimes I think we are, sometimes I think we have this perspective that if God met me face to face, then everything would just go fine in my life, and I'd be okay if he could just tell me what to do.

And I'm suggesting to you that if God were to appear to you today and tell you the future, you would still struggle to trust him. Because you're a human, a fallen, broken human, who faith does not come natural to.

Faith is a supernatural work of God in your life and in mine. And so were God to appear to you right now, and you were able to just verify somehow that this is indeed God, and he told you how everything was going to go down, you'd still find a few minutes later struggles to believe, struggles to trust.

That's what we see in Jacob as an example of you and me, a model of what it's like to be a human in relationship with God. And it's a struggle, it's a wrestling match, if you will. We'll see it here literally in a moment.

Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he's on his way to meet with Esau, his brother. And I forgot to mention this earlier, but Esau has already got some territory named after him. Seir and Edom were mentioned earlier in the text, and both are plays on words of Esau's physical appearance.

Edom meaning red, Seir meaning hairy. And it's funny, as soon as Esau comes back in the picture, we start talking about hair. This dude was like imminently hairy, uber hairy. Okay, he's like, and maybe like Chewbacca, I don't know.

But some of you know who Chewbacca is. Good job, you guys. I'm so proud of you. That's awesome. I'm glad. But yeah, so he's on his way, and it says in the text, Jacob is moved to a couple of emotions.

He is greatly afraid, the text says, and distressed. Okay, coupled together, greatly afraid and distressed. This is, he is beside himself with fear, is what we're looking at here. Technically, if you use these two words combined in Hebrew, they basically mean that he needed a moment to go clean himself up afterwards.

Okay, not technically, but kind of. It's extreme. It is extreme what the text is trying to communicate to us about how terrified, utterly, unreasonably terrified Jacob is in this situation. He is fearing for his life.

Jacob was good at getting himself out of tough situations, though, and as fearful as the text wants us to, wants us to understand he really is, he still has learned over his many years of cheating, conniving, and running to come up with a plan in a moment's notice.

And so he doesn't let his emotion get in the way. He comes up with a plan instantly, proves himself to rise to the occasion, and he divides his camp into two so that if the first is attacked by Esau, the second camp can escape in the night and get away so he could save some.

How do you think he divided that camp? How many of you would like to be one of those people that he put out in front? Like, wait, what am I doing out here? How did this happen? Like, did he tell everybody his strategy?

Okay, you guys go up there in the front. We'll be back here kind of hanging out, and you guys let us know if, I mean, if we hear anything, we'll come and help. Probably not. But joking aside, I'm joking with myself up here apparently, but joking aside, most of us turn to planning first, right?

We turn to planning first when a crisis arises, when difficulty comes. When confronted with a problem, we plan our way out of it. When we are distressed or in trouble, the wheel starts spinning, and we try to think our way out.

Isn't that the American way? Think our way out of the problem. We've been educated. We've got problem-solving skills. We can get through this. But the truth is, there are times in life, and I'm sure everyone in this room has experienced it to some degree, when circumstances bring us face to face with our own inadequacy, our own inability.

We come up against a wall, and we say, I am trying to plan here, but I don't even know if my plans will work. Most of us recognize that even some of our most surefire plans still backfire in our faces.

Many of us have had that happen, where it just seems like, this is locked tight. This plan is, I mean, how could that go wrong? Crumbles. It's done. Anybody have that? Anybody been there? It's just like, this just seems like, this is gonna work.

Nope. Jacob, in a moment like that, amazingly, Jacob turns to his God. Did you hear what I just said? Jacob, if you've been following along in this series, if you've been listening to these messages, I just said something profound.

Jacob turns to his God and says, I am your, what's the word? Servant. I am your servant. Has Jacob had a God? Eh? He's had a God call him out. A God who said, I will be with you, but has Jacob firmed that up and said, yeah, you're, he said, no, if you take me back to the land, if you give me blessings, if you give me a, just like a human, what would we expect a human to do when God comes to him and says, hey, come and be my person?

What's in it for me? Jacob does just what many of us would do. What's in it for me? Well, I've taken applications for God. You can be my God if you bless me and you bring me back to the land, but here something has changed.

He who considered Yahweh to be the God of his parents, the God of his grandparents, now we see him turn to prayer. And this, by the way, amazingly, Jacob, the swindler, the cheater, the liar, the deceiver, records the longest prayer in the book of Genesis, right here in our text.

The longest recorded prayer in the book of Genesis. In his fear, in his moment of need, he acknowledges the God of Abraham, he acknowledges the guide of Isaac, and the God who approached him and told him to return home.

And he calls himself this God's servant. And the comment that we see here at the end of verse 9, the end of verse 9 says, and Jacob, oh God of my father, I'm Abraham, oh Lord who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good.

He is ultimately reminding God, I'm trying to obey you here, God. The reason that I'm in this situation is because you told me to go home. I'm going home, but I'm up against Esau now because you told me to go home.

There are times, I believe, when in life it's completely appropriate for us to let God know we're trying to honor you, we're trying to obey you, we're trying to follow you, we're trying, and I just need you to open doors.

I need you to shed some light because I am not figuring out what your plan is moving forward. I think I know and I think I've got it, and it seems like, it seems like you've communicated clearly what you desire of me, but I tell you what, it looks like I'm going to lose my job if I obey you.

It looks like I'm going to have to eat a huge piece of humble pie if I obey you. It looks like I'm going to lose a friend if I obey you in this. You getting what I'm saying? How we can come up against it and just kind of say, well, I mean, but turn it back and say, God, I want to obey you, I want to follow you, and I'm trying.

But be sure that if you say it, it's true, and I know that we can get all kinds of mixed motives in ourselves for why we're doing what we're doing. Are you trying to obey him? Are you trying to walk with him?

Jacob is returning to his homeland because God told him to. But probably the most jaw-dropping, striking, and glorious comment in this prayer comes in verse 10. I don't expect, after having studied Jacob, to hear these words from his mouth.

Look at verse 10 with me. I am not worthy. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to me, your servant. For with only my staff I cross this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

I am not worthy of the smallest of the kindness, God, that you have shown me. Is that our attitude? I'm not worthy of the blessings that you have shown to me, God. Jacob knew that he wasn't worthy of the love of God.

I don't know if you've noticed this is a theme in the pages of Scripture, but God delights in our humility. That is why Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners. They were humble and they knew their unworthiness in his presence, but Jesus reserved the most scathing comments for religious types who thought they had it all together.

You ever notice that in the way that he interacted with people while he was here on the earth? But in prayer, Jacob identifies himself as a servant of God and tells him he has been unworthy of the blessings he has received.

I don't deserve this, God. I don't deserve anything that you've given me. He says, I crossed the river with only the shirt on my back, so to speak. It's a figure of speech. It says, only my staff. I really believe he was wearing clothes.

He wasn't crossing the river naked, so just with the staff in his hand. I think he literally had a staff and some other stuff with him, but it's a figure of speech. Like, I crossed this river with just a shirt on my back.

Now you've made me two huge camps, and he is bringing a huge camp divided into two with people and flocks. In verse 11, he makes his request clear. He's still praying, and he pleads for deliverance by God from the hand of his brother.

He has a right to fear retribution in this situation. He has a right to think that he has what he deserves coming. He assumes Esau is coming out with murderous intent, and I love it that Jacob even admits his fear in his prayer, showing a willingness to open up and be vulnerable to God in his emotions.

I find something powerful about using the words of my emotions in prayer to God. Any of you ever experienced that? To actually tell God how you feel. There's something that's powerful about that. My question is, does God know how you feel?

Does he know how you feel? Yes, he knows how you feel, but there's something powerful about admitting that in the presence of the Almighty to say, I feel angry, I feel hurt, I feel burdened, I feel joyful.

Think about it in these terms. When I confess to God what is going on in my heart, it brings things into perspective for me. To bring my fear to the one who controls everything kind of makes sense, doesn't it?

To bring my fear to him who can actually do something about it. To bring my anger to the one who has shown me so much kindness, have a little bit of a softening effect on your anger. To come to the one who has given you so many blessings, to bring my loneliness to the one who is always with me, kind of obviously helpful, right?

And in the end, the end of verse 11, we find that Jacob is not merely concerned for his own self in this prayer. God save me, God deliver me, God protect me. That's the prayer we would expect from Jacob, but the swindler is being transformed into somebody who cares for others, not just himself.

And he is praying for his wives and his children, fearful that Esau is going to come and attack them. And the final movement of this prayer is to remind God of his promises. That's something I would suggest that we do regularly in prayer.

Remind him of that which he has promised to us in Scripture. And reminding God of his promises is most often an exercise in not reminding him, reminding ourselves, right? In prayer, talking to God about the promises that he has made.

As we pray in a biblically informed way, we will find two-way communication in prayer develops. Often in prayer, I'm reminded of what God has already given to me. Often I'm reminded of what he has promised to me.

Jacob says to God in prayer, didn't you say you would be with me? Didn't you say you would bless me with good? Didn't you say that you would give me a multitude of offspring and preserve my kids and here they're up against it and Esau might kill them?

And in his prayer, he has his answer. Didn't you say, didn't you promise me protection? And do you think that maybe he heard his own words and actually began to say, hey, maybe, well, maybe you are protecting me.

All he has to do is turn that around and realize that God is indeed keeping his promises. His prayer, even in his prayer, his answers are right there under his nose. And God has indeed promised these things, but Jacob is wrestling with trust.

And how many of us think that if we were in our shoes and his cheated brother was bearing down on us, that we would struggle with trust? Would you be struggling? I think a lot of us would. A bit fearful.

So he comes up with a further plan. He's divided the camps. That was plan one. Then he goes to prayer and now he comes up with a secondary plan and he takes 550 animals showing some substance of his flock.

He has a huge flock. 550 animals divided into seven waves, seven droves. He divides them this way. He has 200 female goats go out with a leader. He has 20 male goats go out with a shepherd. 200 ewes go out.

20 rams go out. 30 camels with their calves go out. Huge gift. 40 cows with 10 bulls and 20 female donkeys with 10 male donkeys. He divides them so that he can maximize the gift so that in each wave it's progressively slowing down his brother and progressively blessing his brother and he gets the benefit of each individual messenger uttering the same repeated statement.

My servant Esau wants to bless you. I mean his servant Jacob wants to bless you Esau. And so he keeps hearing that. He's strategic in this gift and obviously wise. Some see in this, by the way, a return of the blessing that Jacob stole from Esau.