20230924 Genesis 32 - Transformed from the Inside and the Outside
Genesis: Looking Back in Order to Move Ahead Spiritually • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Notice that David is in a struggle. He feels that he is alone.
Notice that he trusts in the Lord’s steadfast love
he rejoices in the Lord’s salvation
He sings because of the Lord’s past faithfulness
This morning as we read chapter 32 I’d like to perhaps persuade you that David based this psalm not just on his life, but on the the life of Jacob in Genesis 32 -
Let’s pray
1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’ ” 6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.” 9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ” 13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’ ” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” 21 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. 22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob 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 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
Moses writes Genesis to teach the nation of Israel. And to teach us. Carefully selected events from history that do more than teach outward morals and good living. They show our need of salvation and justification and grace, saving grace, sustaining grace, transforming grace
Original Sin: You would have done it too. We our disobedient, scheming, deceiving, willful sinners Babel: disobeying God by not longing for the land and kingdom He wants us to seek more than anything. Controlled by the fear of men: lying in order to save ourselves. The folly of false gods and idols. The true nature of salvation: by grace alone though faith alone in the savior alone. The power and sovereignty of the God who is able to fulfill His promise
(1) Transformed through outward trials: Jacob teaches us how to pray
Mahanaim - two camps
400 men is not a welcome party - it’s a lynch mob
v7 - once again Jacob is afraid - but does he lie like Abraham and Isaac?
I’ve heard lots of sermons and discussions of Jacob’s strategy but very little is ever said about Jacob’s prayer and the evidence of his transformed, born from above life.
7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,
9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”
He looks to the God of the past
He looks to the promises of God
He praises the Lord for what the Lord has done
He pleads for deliverance
He prays for his current situation through the lens of God’s promise
He looks to the God of the past He looks to the promises of God He praises the Lord for what the Lord has done He pleads for deliverance He prays for his current situation through the lens of God’s promise
What is Jacob doing after he prays?
God’s Rascal: The Jacob Narrative in Genesis 25–35 Chapter 9: Preparing for Your Worst Nightmare (Genesis 32:1–21)
But IVP’s Bible Background Commentary suggests some collateral purposes:
Jacob’s gifts to Esau demonstrate that he is as shrewd as ever. Besides being an attempt to gain Esau’s favor through generosity, the continuous arrival of the herds of animals will wear out any schemes for ambush and deflate any degree of military readiness that Esau might be planning in his encounter with Jacob. Additionally, traveling with the animals will slow Esau down and make his company much noisier. Finally, the plan adds Jacob’s servants to Esau’s retinue—a decided advantage if there is to be fighting.
Jacob may have had these very designs. But, as noted, it is very hard to be sure because the text does not explicitly tell us. We do know that Jacob meant ‘to pacify’ Esau by this serialized livestock transfer (v. 20b). That sounds a good bit like the old, calculating Jacob to me. And yet, surprisingly to me, Calvin is quite ‘easy’ on Jacob. He claims Jacob does not act distrustfully here:
For though by prayer we cast our cares upon God, that we may have peaceful and tranquil minds; yet this security ought not to render us indolent. For the Lord will have all the aids which he affords us applied to use. But the diligence of the pious differs greatly from the restless activity of the world; because the world, relying on its own industry, independently of the blessing of God, does not consider what is right or lawful; moreover it is always in trepidation, and by its bustling, increases more and more its own disquietude. The pious, however, hoping for the success of their labour, only from the mercy of God, apply their minds in seeking out means, for this sole reason, that they may not bury the gifts of God by their own torpor.
How are we to sort this out? I don’t know that we have to do so, at least not in Jacob’s case. We needn’t debate pro-Jacob or anti-Jacob positions here. But we do need to use Jacob’s case as a way of posing our own dilemma and of highlighting our need for discernment. If we were in Jacob’s sandals and had prayed his prayer, would our livestock gift mean we were acting in faith or in place of faith? In our various quandaries we have to ask ourselves if our proposed action expresses faith or contradicts faith. Is our pathway prudence—the way faith should act? Or is it self-reliance, leaning on our own savvy and ingenuity?
Are we acting in faith or in place of faith? Sometimes it looks the same - are you willing to examine your heart and ask yourself the hard questions?
(2) Transformed by outward struggles: Jacob wrestles with Jesus
The good: Esau is no longer the number one problem in Jacob’s life
The bad: he’s in an all night wrestling match with the Lord
If prayer is the grace of God that builds our faith as we bend God’s ear, what we see now is the grace of God that breaks our sinful pride and rebellion as He bends our limbs.
24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob 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 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
Jacob was alone: God’s work of grace is personal
Jacob was competitive: God’s grace does not crush you
Jacob was injured: God’s grace may cripple you
Jacob was bold: God’s grace is gracious
- faithful, merciful, abundant, He who has all the power is good and kind - God wanted to leave for Jacob’s benefit, not His
Hosea 12:3–4 (ESV)
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his grace. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us—
What do we do with this?
Jacob has deceived, Jacob has done it his way in his strength.
And now we see that his way and his strength is no match for God. While it is true that God is for us, He will stand against us when He needs to. His goal is not to crush us but to transform us. To use the circumstances of life, both the trials and the struggles, the testings and the temptations, to produce in us the realization that we are helpless in our own strength
Jacob becomes Israel: God’s grace finishes what it promises
Sneaky becomes Victor (God fights)
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
How do we get to this place in life?
Through trials and struggles comes transformation: there is no other way
Now a dying Savior’s love, a risen Savior’s joy, an ascended Savior’s power, and a returning Savior’s hope, rest upon your hearts and your homes. Amen.