Genesis 32:22-32 for Sunday, August 3, 2008

Translation:
(22) And he arose that very night and took his two wives, two maids his eleven children and he crossed the ford of Jabbok. (23)And he took them and crossed the wadi and that which belonged to him. (24) And Jacob remained apart and a man wrestled with him until dawn. (25)And he saw that he was not prevailing over him and he struck him in the hip socket and dislocated Jacob's hip as he wrestled with him. (26)And he said "Let me go for it is dawn." And he said "I will not let you go unless you bless me. (27)And he said to him "What is your name?" and he said "Jacob." (28)And he said "Jacob will no longer be your name, but Israel for you persisted with God and with people and you prevailed. (29)And Jacob asked and said "Now tell me your name." And he said "Why do you ask for my name?" and he blessed him there. (30)And Jacob called the place Peniel because "I saw God face to face and my being was delivered." (31)And the sun rose as he passed through Penuel and he limped upon his hip. (32)Thus the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh upon the hip socket this day because he was struck Jacob's hip socket in the sinew of the thigh.

How many times have we all wished that God would answer our prayers in obvious ways? Wouldn't it be better if God would just call you up on the telephone? Wouldn't it be easier if God would meet you in the mirror with the answers to your questions?

I've often thought this. To be honest, I am a little jealous of Jacob. He gets such awesome encounters with God and I somehow wish my own encounters were this dramatic. Jacob wrestles with God. Who among us hasn't? Jacob wrestles with God and comes away as a different man. Who among us hasn't?

Though I wish that I could see God "face-to-face" as Jacob did (what must that have been like?!), I know that my own encounters with the holy have been just as transformative. Christians have this tendency to talk about a life of faith as if it were a walk in the park with Jesus. Jacob's story proves that it doesn't work that way. A close and intimate relationship with God can sometimes cause you to walk away, not only changed, but maybe even a little disabled.Jacob walks away from Peniel with a limp. He is not the same person. He has a new name, and he is disfigured.

It works that way in the life of faith sometimes. Anyone experiencing a call to ministry knows that. How do you explain to your friends and family that God "told" you to go into ministry? There is a part of that calling that cuts very deep and feels a little painful.

How do you suppose Mary made out after discovering she was pregnant prior to marriage? Sure, the story seems to have a happy ending, giving birth to the Savior and all, but how do you suppose her life was changed? Imagine how she explained to her friends and family that God had chosen her to bear a special child. Maybe she was just a little disfigured too.

What about Moses, who received a calling from a burning bush to go face the strongest government in the region with the demand to let the slaves go free. Is that the course he imagined his life taking?

The story of Jacob wrestling with God always reminds me that the life of faith is not for the faint of heart. Frankly, it's hard and it hurts a lot. It means wrestling with God and walking away changed, and maybe not in the way you wanted to be changed.