Meeting God at Our Jabbok

This evening, friends, we are in our study of the life of Jacob. We are in our Deepening Faith series, and I believe we can learn a lot from studying this man Jacob's checkered life of spiritual highs and lows. By studying his life, we can learn a lot about ourselves and much about God.

The best description of Jacob I ever heard was made by my late homiletical mentor, Dr. Stephen F. Offord, who remarked that Jacob was so crooked he could hide behind a corkscrew. And as true friends, Jacob was an ordinary man with human frailties, much like ourselves. But he was also a man who had had an extraordinary experience of God, and it changed his life forever.

We have access to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I believe that God is the God of the Bible, and he is the same God today as he was when he appeared to Jacob. I believe God can still do the impossible, and I believe all things are possible to him who believes.

God wants to grow our faith. God desires for each of us to enter into the very best he has prepared for us. Do you believe that, dear friends? I hope you do.

I want us to examine this man Jacob under the searching light of the Holy Spirit and the sure word of God. The title of my message this evening, friends, is Meeting God at Orjabic. My text can be found in the book of Genesis in chapter 32.

You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will camp out in Genesis 32 as we study this remarkable man whose tenacity in prayer is a marvel and wonder to us today. If you, friend, desire a better prayer life, if you long for a deeper experience of God, then hang on as we proceed with this time before us this evening.

I don't normally use the word of alliteration in preaching because I feel it's greatly overdone by too many pastors to make their points. But I feel alliteration can be used effectively for our purpose this evening. And I will list six points and then elaborate upon each head as we proceed.

You may wish to get out your pens and paper to take notes as we are in no hurry this evening. I want us to see the following aspects of this striking passage of Scripture as it pertains to this man Jacob and as it relates to ourselves. Number one, the preparation of approaching God in prayer.

Number two, the process of seeking God in prayer. Number three, the place of desperation in meeting God in prayer. Number four, the perseverance of hanging onto God in prayer.

Number five, the personal cost of prevailing with God in prayer. And lastly, number six, the power gained by an experience of God in prayer. Well, let's look at our text as seen in chapter 32 of Genesis.

We find Jacob, like always, in hot water. He is in a jam. He learns that his brother Esau is coming against him.

He initially tries to appease his brother Esau and heal the breach between them by flattering Esau with gifts and respect. He does like we do today in church. We try to get the job done by money and manpower instead of trusting God to work through prayer and holy ghost power.

Jacob tries to wiggle his way out of his breach with Esau by his own craftiness, but it doesn't work this time. Jacob sends messengers before him, for Jacob at this juncture in his life is a very prosperous man, and he wants to impress his brother by his wealth, as we see in verse five. And I have oxen and asses, flocks and manservants and womanservants, and I have sent to tell my Lord that I may find grace in thy sight.

Verse six sends shivers down Jacob's crooked spine, and the messengers return to Jacob saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee and four hundred men with him. This news drains the blood out of Jacob's face and makes him go wobbly in his knees. Esau riding fast with four hundred men to come and take revenge finally on him for cheating him out of the birthright.

We see in verse seven Jacob's reaction to this terrifying news. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. Well, Jacob uses his self-reason here and divides his traveling band in two.

He figures if Esau smites one of them, the other can escape. But then we find this man Jacob as he begins to prepare himself to approach God in prayer. And this is where the lesson for this evening begins.

We see our first point of the preparation of approaching God in prayer. We see in verse nine, And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which set us unto me, return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. So we see Jacob addressing the great God of his fathers, and he reminds God of his promises to him.

This preparation in prayer is vitally important, friends, to gain in God's ear in prayer. Now we'll see the second aspect of the process of seeking God in prayer as seen in verse ten. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant.

For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Here Jacob develops the process of prayer through humiliation and thankfulness unto God. He humbles himself before God and acknowledges all God has done for him by revealing the truth to him and prospering him.

All self-reliance is clean gone. He realizes he must approach a thrice holy God in meekness and reverence. He seeks God's aid and deliverance.

Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him lest he come and smite me and the mother with the children. We see a remarkable thing here, friends, in the life of Jacob. This conniver, this cheat, he's finally become an honest.

He is honest with God. Now, friends, I want us to see our next point, the place of desperation in meeting God in prayer. Look at verses 22 and 23.

And he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants and his eleven sons and passed over the four Jabbok. And he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had. Jacob does this to be alone, to find a place of solitude in prayer.

Eleven sons and two wives can be distracting. He needs to get alone with his God in a night of desperate prayer. Oh, friends, this is here where the church fails to gain access and power with God.

She won't put forth the effort to turn her sanctuary into a Bethel in a night of desperate prayer. But Jacob comes to this place of desperation, his own Jabbok. God willing, we will come there as well, to our own Jabbok and meet God as well.

What happens next? Look at verse 24. And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. This is our next point, the perseverance of hanging on to God in prayer.

Jesus referred to it as importunity in the story of the friend who comes at midnight seeking bread and the persistent widow who keeps troubling the judge until he relents. Here we see the secret to prayer that it must be accompanied by perseverance. Too many of us give up too soon.

We have to stay in prayer in importunity to God. We see this in verse 26. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh.

And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. We must ask ourselves, friends, do we possess this kind of fortitude in prayer? Are we warriors in prayer? Do we wrestle with God in prayer? If I may so speak, to such a persistent degree that we gain both His ear and His favor like Jacob here in our text. I want us to see this aspect of prayer and that is the personal cost of prevailing with God in prayer.

In verse 25 we see that the angel touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh as he wrestled with him in prayer. Look at the result in verse 31. And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

For the rest of his days he would limp through life with the mark of that night of prayer upon him. I remember Leonard Ravenhill saying that he believed he suffered a heart attack while engaged in a night of prayer. And it reminds me of what my mentor, Stephen Olford, often said in regard to a life of prayer.

He said, what counts costs, and what costs counts, whether it's higher education or success in a career. There's always the attending sacrifice involved. Are we willing to bear the marks of a deeper life of prayer? And this brings us to our last point, the power gained by an experience of God in prayer.

Look at verse 28, friends. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

This, my brother preachers, is the anointing from on high that is given to the man who is willing to count the cost in prayer and willing to pay the price in prayer to have power with God and men. Well, that's my message for this evening, friends. I hope some of you have benefited from it and that your own prayer life will be strengthened and you walk with God deep.

And let us pray.