I WILL NOT LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME!

Genesis 32:22-32 is one of the more famous passages in the Old Testament. It is often referred to as the night Jacob “wrestled” with God.

This was not wrestling as we think of it today. We are too influenced by images of “professional wrestling” and to think that Jacob was going to put God in a headlock and force a blessing out of Him is ludicrous. God could have ended this wrestling match at any time—one flick of His little finger and Jacob would have been far into eternity. So what was going on here? And why did God allow this grappling to continue all night? The term wrestling means to get down in the dirt and grapple.

Jacob was afraid of his brother Esau and he had every reason to be. Jacob had taken advantage of his brother and stolen away the “birthright of the firstborn” that rightfully belonged to Esau. Under Jewish law the firstborn son would get double the inheritance of each of the rest of the children and Jacob took that for himself by exploiting his brother’s weakness. On top of that, Jacob then deceitfully took the blessing that their father had prepared for Esau. Prior to a father’s death, it was traditional for him to speak a blessing over each of the children and through trickery Jacob inserted himself into position to take Esau’s blessing. I would say that Jacob had plenty of reason to be afraid of his brother.

The brothers had been apart for twenty years when the day finally came for them to meet and Jacob was nervous and afraid. I am sure he was having some second thoughts about his “bad behavior” as a younger man—and then came the wrestling encounter with God.

I believe in persistent, prevailing prayer but we need to understand some things about what that means. We will learn more about that as we go through this story.

Verse 24 says that Jacob and God wrestled all night long and when He (God) saw that He did not prevail against Jacob, He put his hip out of joint. Wait a minute! That’s not fair! There was no way Jacob was going to grab God’s arm and put His arm out of joint so why would God do that to Jacob?
The Bible says that even though Jacob was in pain, he was not about to quit. God said to him, “It’s coming to the dawn and I know you’re hurting, so stop this fighting and I’ll be on My way.” Jacob responded, “This is not over and I will not let You go unless You bless me” (v. 26).

This wrestling match was not about God’s triumphing over Jacob or Jacob getting God to yell “Uncle! I’ll give you what you want!” This match was about Jacob, a man I believe was disgusted with himself, afraid of what was ahead, sick over the mess he had made with his life and sick over what he had done to his brother.

God could have ended the match at any moment, as I said earlier, but He is the God of the second chance and He wanted to give Jacob a chance to come to the end of himself. Jacob continued to try to prevail even though he was hurt, because he was desperately hungry—but hungry for what? What was driving him?

God said to Jacob, “Let Me go, for the day breaks” (v. 26). Finally through the pain and weariness of the night-long battle came the answer God needed to hear from Jacob. Jacob’s answer was the beginning of the end of what the match was all about: “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

Why does Jacob request a blessing? He is insisting on something from God that he cannot provide for himself. He treacherously took Esau’s blessing but he can receive this blessing only by holding on in prayer, by prevailing!

Jacob had come to the end of himself and realized that what he had done through trickery and deceit had not achieved what he thought it would and unless God blessed him, he would not have what he was longing for.

God said to Jacob, “What is your name?” Did God forget who this despicable person was? Was He tired from the fight and suffering temporary memory lapse? Why would God ask Jacob what his name was?

It wasn’t because God forgot, it was because God wanted to hear Jacob finally admit who and what he was. The name Jacob means deceiver, supplanter, to takes by force or trickery. Jacob never hesitated in answering God, not for a second. Out of his mouth came, “Jacob,” to which God replied, “Not anymore; from now on your name will be Israel [Prince with God]” and He blessed him there (v. 28).

The whole night of wrestling had been about this moment when the old Jacob died and the new Jacob was born. Prevailing in prayer is not about getting God cornered so we can get what our miserable little hearts want. Prevailing prayer is about us, about our finally getting in line with what it is that God has in store for us. The silly idea that we can get in God’s face and demand of Him that He measure up to our standard is just that—a silly, childish idea that has found a home among the childish.

At the final bell, the end result of this wrestling match was more spectacular than Wrestlemania!