Beginnings #8 Wrestling With God

November 2, 2025           Rev. Thomas M. Cox

BEGINNINGS #8

Genesis 32:22-32

WRESTLING WITH GOD

• RECAP OF CHAPTERS 29-32A
  

29- Jacob, D__________ by Laban, marries first Leah and then Rachel. Leah bears four sons.

30- Eight more sons are born to Jacob. He prospers by God’s grace, not by his own D_________.

31- Jacob and his entire family F____ from Laban. Laban overtakes them but does them no H___.

32A- Jacob seeks to appease his brother Esau. He asks the Lord to P__________ him.

2) JACOB IS ALONE WITH GOD

• Jacob is injured while wrestling with the D__________.

• Jacob requests a B______________ and his name is changed to Israel.

• RECAP of Ch. 33- Esau F______________ his brother Jacob.

3) TAKEAWAYS

1. HEAD: Know that the Lord wants to break us of our S_____-reliance. 

1. HEART: Feel H_______ to be a recipient of the blessings of the Lord. Be persistent in prayer.

1. HAND: Read Ch. 36-41 to prep for next week. Read Leading with a L_____ by Dan Allender.

• Remember how Jesus struggled in prayer in Gethsemane. See Mark 14:32-36.
• God’s P________ is made perfect in our weakness. See 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

Genesis 32:22-32 (ESV, emphases mine)

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.

Mark 14:32-36 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, He fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.