Genesis 32:24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. I. GOD WRESTLES WITH MAN TILL HE HAS PREVAILED WITH HIM. 1. The Divine desire to bless. This is the foundation of all God's dealings with us. 2. But before this blessing could be given, Jacob's strength must be destroyed. 3. To destroy this, God wrestles with him apparently as an enemy. II. WE SEE THAT WHEN MAN IS THUS SUBDUED BY GOD, HE CAN PREVAIL WITH GOD. IS it not strange that the Divine Conqueror in this story should say to him who is thoroughly in His power, "Let Me go, for the day breaketh"?" It seems strange, but it is not; there is a sense in which God is in the hands of the soul He has subdued. 1. Notice that there is no prevailing with God till the spirit of resistance is destroyed, Until we yield to Him we can receive little from Him. That may explain much unprevailing prayer; the fact is it is not prayer: true prayer says "Thy will be done." 2. Then we see that we prevail with God when we only cling to Him in trustful prayer. That is the pleader that prevails. Thy covenant promises, Lord! Thy nature, which is love, and thus delights to bless! Thy mercy in Christ Jesus, which can bless the worthless; Thy fatherly relationship, which makes us trust Thy sympathy and depend on Thy resources, and which cannot cast Thy child back into the dark without a blessing! 3. Now to trustful prayer like this the delayed blessing is sure. But did God delay? We get an impression from this story (as I said) that God delays to bless and must be striven with, but did He delay, is there any sign of delay in the case of Jacob? None whatever after Jacob was subdued. III. Then, we find that HAVING PREVAILED WITH GOD, MAN PREVAILS WITH ALL. Prevailing with God does not mean that we persuade Him to give us what we ask, but simply that we secure His blessing: "He blessed Him there." That may be the gift, the deliverance, the supply we desire, but it may not; it may simply be power to endure — to endure cheerfully, enrichingly, and so as to glorify Him, but it involves that in some way we prevail over the trial. There is a great truth here. If we would prevail over our trials, we must first prevail with God; we may go to meet them bravely, but there will be no enrichment, no peace, no conquest, if that be all; we must prevail with heaven if we would conquer on earth. See how then we conquer! 1. In prevailing with God, Jacob prevailed over his own troubled heart. From that time he was a new creature with a new name, and I suppose in nothing was this change more apparent than in the tranquility which possessed him. 2. Jacob also prevailed over his dreaded foe. Esau came, the Esau that he feared, with his four hundred men. But what then? Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him. God's blessing turns the foe into a friend. (C. New.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.WEB: Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. |
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