A Crippled Saint!

 The same night [ Jacob] arose and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob's thigh was put out of joint ...Then he said, " Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, " I will not let you go,unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Genesis 32:22-28

What does it take to make you believe in the promises and the power of God? God protected you through all the foolishness of your youth. He got you out of all the troubles that you were dying to get into. He got you a job. He has blessed you with a lovely family. He brought you into the gracious household of faith called the Church. He has forgiven your lies and your deceits  and the moments of sheer panic. God knows you want his blessing, and he has promised you a life full of the fruit of his Spirit-- a life full of love and joy and peace, a life full of patience and kindness  and goodness.  He has promised you faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

So, why is it that you find it hard to believe  that God forgives the past, makes right the present and guarantees the future? Why is it that you find it hard to believe that God can influence other people and make your enemies give you the kiss of peace? Oh, I know that our Father Jacob lived that way, but that's no excuse for you to live like that. Jacob was terrified  for his future. He had left his mortal enemy back in his future, back in the Land of God's Promises. Jacob really did not believe that God could do anything about his brother Esau.

Why, I can remember a half-century of sincere belief among American Christians that God has no influence whatsoever over any Communist or over the Evil Empire of Russia. Those good Christians raised me on the belief that says, "You can always trust the Communists to do exactly what  Lenin and Stalin have written in their books that they will do." Many millions of good, God-fearing Christians bought into the Communist lie that God is helpless, merely a powerless idea in the hands of duped believers. This is much the same way many view ISIS today.

Yet the Bible teaches, from cover to cover, that God is the God not only of the heavens but also of the earth. The Bible teaches that our Lord Jesus is the King of earthly kings, the Lord of earthly lords, that he controls nations and empires. Why did Jacob not believe that God could transform Esau into a good neighbor? Sure, Esau was his mortal enemy, but also, God is God!

When it came time to claim the Land of God's Promises, Jacob was in a panic. He sent wave after wave of expensive gifts rolling down toward Esau in the hopes of pacifying him. Then his scouts came back with the chilling word that Esau was riding toward the border with 400 light cavalry. It was almost sundown, and Jacob was running out of options.. Once he crossed the River Jabbok there was no turning back. Once he and his herds and his flocks and his servants and his maids, his wives and his children crossed the river, they would have to face far superior military might in the hands of Jacob's mortal enemy-Esau.

The day before, when they were looking South  toward the Promised Land, God opened Jacob's eyes and let him see a whole army of angels camped out on the mountain sides,camped between him and Esau. But Jacob has had religious visions before, and not once did they influence his planning. Jacob is a religious man who lives as if God were powerless in this world. Jacob is a religious man who believes that God's angels are nothing more than cute little figures fit only for Christmas cards and children's coloring books or props for Sunday school pageants.

So, Jacob, religious man that he was, said a prayer and went about forming a last-ditch defense  against total loss. He divided up his wealth into separate groups, hoping that Esau might be tricked into thinking that he had captured everything, and would be satisfied. Last of all, in the most protected position, he sent his family across the River Jabbok, but he didn't cross, not Jacob. Jacob stayed on the safe side of the border.

As darkness came over the land, Jacob walked along the river bank and hid himself  down in under the thick underbrush, in the muck. After all, "He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day." The rest of the story is as dark and confused as the night. Sometime in the middle of that night, we hear noises coming from along the river bank. It is the noise of two men struggling. We realize that the commotion is coming from Jacob's secret hiding place.

Someone has penetrated the perimeters of Jacob's last defense. Someone has grabbed Jacob and they were fighting. It is too dark and too far away for us to see the face of the opponent, but we hear the grunts and the cries of pain as they fight through the dark night. Finally, from the sounds it seems like Jacob has pinned the assailant to the ground. There is a pause, and then we hear Jacob talking to the man in the darkness.

Later, Jacob tells us that just as he was beginning to win the struggle, the faceless man does something strange to his leg. Suddenly Jacob feels a terrible cramp in his leg and it is blown out of joint at the hip. The pain is unbearable. Jacob makes a desperate clinch and holds the man so tightly that the dark stranger screams out, "Let me go! It's almost daylight." And Jacob, in that death clinch will not let him go. Jacob demands a blessing.

Down there in the muck, exhausted from hand-to-hand combat, in excruciating pain from a dislocated hip, Jacob comes to the conclusion that his enemy is one of God's angels, maybe God himself. So Jacob pins him to the ground in a death match and demands a blessing. Jacob has finally bested God!

For all we know, God had gone to Jacob's hiding place with peaceful intentions. For all we know God had sought out Jacob to bless him and assure him that Esau had already been taken care of, that Esau would open the frontiers with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. But Jacob has never known how to receive a gift or a blessing, not from God. He must fight for it, he must demand it, he must win it in a no- holds- barred battle to the death.

"Bless me!" Jacob demands as he pins the stranger to the muck. The stranger answers,, " What's your name?" What a time for introductions! Without shaking hands, Jacob tells him. Jacob gives him the name he had received in another battle, in that struggle with Esau  as the twins emerged from the darkness of Rebekah's womb. "My name is Jacob, The - One -Who- Wins- By-Tripping- His- Opponent." The stranger, with mud in his mouth, replies, "From now on you will be called 'Israel,' for you have striven with God and with men, and you have prevailed." It's as if the stranger is saying, "Oh, Jacob, you're still at it after all these years.. You have learned nothing."  So, down there in the muck, the god-like stranger tells Jacob, "It's all right. You wanted to win, you have won. Now let go of me, it is almost daylight and I must be off." Jacob begged to know his name but the stranger wouldn't introduce himself.  Nevertheless, for years afterwards, Jacob told his children and grandchildren and anyone else who would listen, saying, "I have seen God face to face and yet my life is preserved!"

By the time the sun's rays got down into the valley, Jacob limped his way back across the river, out to face  Esau. Jacob still wasn't convinced. He sent his least favorite women out first with their children. Behind them, he said his least favorite wife and her children. And then, still between him and Esau,  he placed his beloved Rachel and her son Joseph.

Suddenly, like the midnight stranger, Esau came crashing through all of Jacob's defenses and jumped off his war mule right  in Jacob's face, backed up by 400 light cavalry. But the midnight stranger was right. Jacob had won. Esau, in true Oriental fashion, embraced his old enemy, kissed him on both cheeks and acted like Jacob was the most important man in his life. And they both lived happily ever after.

Do you believe that story? Or do God's blessings still sound like fairy tales fit only for small children? Does God have to cripple you to make you stop fighting against him? Is that what it will take? Are you still struggling with God's salvation as if salvation were an enemy sneaking up on you in the middle of the night, penetrating your last defenses?

We all struggle! Why is it that we struggle with God endlessly, year after year, as if he is not willing or not able to keep his promises to us? Christ has won. He has prevailed. It's all over! Salvation has already been accomplished, justification imputed and the enemy is not going to harm us. However, God may have to cripple you to make you stop struggling. But crippled or not, get up out of the muck you are struggling in, wash up in the bayou and step over into the world of God's Promises. Sure, you and I know the Enemy is out there; even in the Promised Land he is out there but he won't harm you. He may try to deceive you but he won't kill you. And the whole future of God's promises are yours. Amen