Genesis 32:22-31 (NIV) 22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 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 men 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.
Galatians 6:2-3 (NASB) 2Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Jacob is one of the great achievers in the Scriptures. Born the disadvantaged younger brother of Esau, Jacob connives to take the blessing from his older brother, and he succeeds. Later, to escape Esau’s revenge, Jacob finds refuge with his Uncle Laban. Jacob prospers and even out swindles his uncle for just about everything Laban has. But then a restlessness sets in. Jacob was not entirely satisfied. He wants to return home.
What happens when an achiever like Jacob meets Jesus who seeks success as ardently as any high achiever? Jesus gave Himself tirelessly to the task of accomplishing God’s will for His life, a mission some people deemed impossible. He even built up an organization to carry on His work after He was gone. Jesus had a different understanding of success than most achievers. For Jesus, success meant in every circumstance to choose the will of God and to choose it regardless of the results. For Jesus, success was sought with a yielding spirit, a commitment to be sensitive to the voice of God, a willingness to decide in the face of doubt with an obedience of heart, mind, and will.
One night, by the Brook of Jabbok, Jacob met the spirit of Christ in a confrontation with a mysterious Stranger. The wrestling match between himself and the Stranger brought to a head Jacob’s life long struggle to get the blessing. "I will not let you go unless you bless me." When Jacob was broken of his striving, the gift of the Blessing was given, a sense of wholeness, health, and well being that nothing in life can take away or ultimately destroy. In his striving to achieve, Jacob was resisting the gift he could not earn and did not deserve. The Blessing is a gift, and the Blessed are a gift to others.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 15, 1991
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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