Genesis 32: Wrestling with God

²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When 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. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore 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. -Genesis 32:24-31

Jacob’s return home included an interesting night of wrestling–with God! Rather than give up, we find him wrestling until sunrise. Why? He will not let go until the man “blesses” him. This “God face to face” would not give his name, yet gave Jacob a new name (Israel). He left home alone. He returned home with the beginnings of what would become the nation of Israel.

A quick contemporary insight is that God often allows us to face major struggles before we reach a time of blessing. This was true for Jacob, the nation of Israel, and for us today. God does not promise a problem-free life; he promises to be with us through the problems of life. When we wrestle, he is with us, guiding us toward the next step of life’s journey.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.