Don't Wrestle With God
Genesis 32:24 says, “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.”
Jacob’s encounter with God started while his mother, Rebekah, was pregnant with him and his twin brother, Esau (Gen 25:22). He wrestled with him to get his birthright (Gen 25:34). Then he wrestled with his uncle Laban for his wife (Gen 29:21). Jacob has been wrestling with a life of his own choosing by taking the path of self-will, selfish goals, and personal ambitions (Ps 119:36). Now, he finds himself wrestling with God by the streams of Jabbok (v. 22), a name which means a constant murmur of flowing water! Completely alone with his doubts and fears, he was privileged to be in a place where God decided to manifest Himself as “a man.”
God could have easily defeated Jacob, but He allowed him to struggle “until the breaking of the day,” so he can see himself as he truly was. Jacob here pictures the old fleshly and sinful nature of man (Eph 2:3), that constantly “lusteth against the Spirit” (Gal 5:17). This old nature is everything that the child of God should not be (Eph 4:22). Sadly, many professing believers today are just like Jacob! They fight the Lord at every turn of their lives. God tries to convict them that something is wrong (2 Cor 7:5), but the old nature fights Him in defiance (Mt 15:19).
Even Paul struggled with this dilemma (Rom 7:15). As God’s children (Jn 1:12), we must be reminded that “the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Sam 17:47)! Jesus saved us by His grace (Eph 2:8), to be on the winning side! We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Rom 8:37). And since “our old man is crucified with Him” (Rom 6:6), we are to manifest “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22), in our lives. We must never again drag that old rotting corpse behind us! Because we are “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:11). Therefore, let us quit wrestling against Him! God bless you!
- Pastor Melito Barrera
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