This week, we will be exploring Genesis 32 together, Wrestling According to God.
Or perhaps it should more accurately be called Wresting with God.
Jacob literally wrestles God in this chapter.
It is a hard thing to imagine. In fact, most Jewish interpreters struggle to make any sense of this chapter. And it is the very chapter that explains where the name Israel came from!
Some see Genesis 32 as a dream or a vision. Some see it as a throwback to some kind of mythical battle against demons or "river gods." Some see it as an allegorical story on prayer or an inner psychological wrestling match in Jacob's own head.
But the text is clear: Jacob wrestled a Man whom he later realized was God. In fact, it had to be God because He is the one who blesses Jacob and changes his name. And Jacob had no doubt who had that kind of power, Yahweh Himself. That's why he stops in the morning to contemplate what just happened and he names the place, Peniel, "the face of God."
Jacob sees God's face...and lives.
Jacob wrestles God...and comes away with only a limp.
Jacob encounters the God-Man who would redeem his life and ultimately provide redemption for the whole world.
It's an amazing story...and one of the key chapters in the whole Old Testament.
And I think it is also the story of us all.
We are all "God wrestlers" to some degree. We are all "heelcatchers" trying to make life work on our own. And when we encounter God, He often feels like an antagonist, like someone trying to stop us from doing what we want or hinder us from having fun or interfere with our self-sufficient lives.
But in actuality, the God-Man is seeking to redeem us.
He is a Friend who comes to save.
And we have to learn to stop fighting Him and instead cling to Him alone.
That's when we find the blessing and receive a new name.
May God open our eyes to His truth and transform us into the image of His Son!

This week, we will be exploring Genesis 30:25-31:55 together, Hard Times According to God.
This is another passage that could be under the "Strange Stories in the Bible" category.
We have weird breeding strategies, a bunch of oddball sheep and goats, stolen household gods, a daring escape on camels, a showdown at Gilead, and Jacob's first country song.
It's better than any movie out there!
But in the midst of this crazy story, God is still at work. He is slowly molding and shaping Jacob into the man that He wants him to be. Jacob doesn't make this process easy but God is faithful to complete the work that He started in him.
Praise God...because we are not the easiest clay to mold either!
God takes Jacob through hard times, through his own "wilderness experience," to teach him to trust Him alone.
And there is much that we can learn from Jacob's story.
May God strengthen us day by day, give us peace in the midst of hard times, and fix our hope on the redemption that we have in Jesus Christ!

This week, we will be exploring Genesis 29:31-30:24 together, Dysfunction According to God.
"Wow! These people are messed up!"
I remember hearing that from a new believer who was reading through Genesis for the first time.
There are no real heroes in this passage of Scripture. Everyone fails on some level. You have an apathetic man. An unloved woman. An angry husband. An unhappy wife. Arguing parents. Neglected children. Sibling rivalry. Family conflict. Misused sex. Misused prayer. And misused people.
It is a messy, dysfunctional family filled with messy, dysfunctional people.
So what are we supposed to learn from all this? Why is this passage in the Scriptures? Why are God's people acting this way?
Welcome to reality!
All of us are dysfunctional. None of us "function," live, or love to the degree that God calls us to. We all fall short. And thus, every family, church, and community will reflect that dysfunction in some way.
All of us can find ourselves somewhere in this story...if we are willing to see.
And all of us desperately need God's amazing, abundant grace!
Even in this mess, God is at work behind the scenes, answering half-hearted prayers, showing love to the unloved, humbling the proud, encouraging the weak, healing the broken-hearted, and accomplishing His will in spite of the attitudes and actions of His people.
He redeems the mess for His glory.
And He redeems our mess when we are willing to humble our hearts, acknowledge our failures, seek His righteousness, and praise His name.
May God open our eyes to see our sinful ways and His amazing grace!