08.03.08Proper 13Genesis 32:22-31Some things in life are so obvious they need no explanation. Who would anticipate, for example, a hairdryer with these words: “Do not use while sleeping.” Or a pudding container that warns: “Product will be hot after heating.” And the frozen dinner that instructs: “Defrost?” Imagine an iron with the following label: “Do not iron clothes on body.” Why would a sleeping pill bear this solemn statement: “Warning may cause drowsiness?” Who needs these words affixed to a packet of peanuts: “Open packet, eat nuts?”
Maybe we’re more prone to turn a blind eye to the obvious than we care to admit. Thus, this paradox seldom sinks in immediately though it is completely biblical: “Power is perfected in weakness” (
2 Cor. 12:9). In
Phil. 3:10, the Apostle Paul expresses his desire to know God in “the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
Most of us do well with “the power of His resurrection,” but the “fellowship of His sufferings” is a bit more difficult to bear. No wonder Jacob wrestled with God. Through the culmination of several events, the patriarch is about to learn his greatest life lesson yet.
I. Life’s Most Difficult Moments May Be Your Greatest HourWith Mesopotamia behind him and Jabbok before him, Jacob initiates reconciliation with his brother Esau. After years of separation and experiencing the pain of deception himself, he sends messengers to the land of Seir in the country of Edom in order to gain his brother’s favor (
vv. 3-5). Immediately, fear welled up in Jacob’s heart when he learned that Esau chose to meet him personally, along with four hundred other men (
v. 6).
At first glance, this appears to be Jacob’s darkest, and perhaps, final hour. We must not miss the backdrop, for the desperation of his battle with the Lord is prompted by this “hopeless” scenario. God is always ready to work when we are His last resort.
II. The Blessings of God Are Reserved for the Weakest RecipientsWrestling with God is a strange event to say the least. What purpose would it serve? Why is it recorded in the Bible? How can we learn from this narrative? The lesson of Jabbok simplifies to one principle: The blessings of God are reserved for the weakest recipients. Stated differently,
James 4:6 asserts: “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”