READ | SERMON NOTES
Summary l How long more, O Lord? When will there be a breakthrough?
As we sit in the “messy middle” between joy and grief, hope and sorrow; and when neither hope nor joy is seen “at the end of the spectrum” – can we say, “It is okay”? (Ms Wong Ee Hwee, PTM of Worship & Music, ‘Hope in a Thousand Storms’) Jacob’s earlier life was one of constant striving to negotiate and manipulate in order to get ahead.
- His brother’s birthright (25:29-34) – manipulated Esau to trade his birthright for a bowl of stew, revealing his hunger for significance and control
- His father’s blessing (Chap 27) – deceived Isaac to receive the blessing meant for Esau; showing his desire to be seen, affirmed and chosen even if it meant pretending to be someone else
- Success in his own strength (Chap 30-31) – worked tirelessly for Laban using clever strategies to build wealth and secure his future
1. Despair Comes When We Reach the End of Ourselves
Like Jacob, many of us try to earn our worth through achievements, manage our image to hide our weakness, or measure our value by our performance. Yet through it all, we feel inadequate and exhausted. We press on despite warning signs of an impending burnout – like a poorly-maintained car whose engine finally stalls in the middle of a highway. Despair set in for Jacob when the consequences of his past caught up with him. With nowhere else to run, and no one else to manipulate or prove himself to, he was left with fear – of meeting his estranged brother for the first time, having deceived him and fleeing the family home. Burnout forces us to look at the reality of our inadequacies – “I can’t control this anymore.” “I can’t fix this myself.” “I can’t prove myself any further.”
2. Redemption Happens in The Wrestle
It is when our job, family, ministry, and moral failures accost or crumble before us that God does a deeper work in us. Despair becomes redemptive when we begin to honestly ask ourselves: Where in my life am I coming to the end of myself? What am I still trying to control, fix, or prove? Left alone by the Jabbok River that night, Jacob wrestled desperately with God, refusing to let go – until God touched his hip socket, inflicting great pain and rendering him totally helpless. Clinging to God for support, he admitted defeat; yet made a last cry, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” God allows us to despair in order to:
- Break us from self-reliance
- Lead us to surrender to Him as LORD
- Transform our identity
Along with a permanent limp, Jacob was blessed with a new name – ISRAEL (one who struggled with God and humans and overcame, v28). His dislocated hip was a reminder, not a punishment, that his strength was not in himself but in God. In brokenness and surrender he had come to trust God fully for the journey ahead. Similarly, scars from a broken marriage, the memory of a failure, a struggle against temptation that never really goes away… all testify of how we have wrestled with God and emerge transformed.
God sees our private tears and anguished nights of prayer as we wrestle over various disappointments and hidden sins that eat away at us; when responsibilities take a toll, when bills pile up, when we never feel good enough. In moments of failure and repentance, God redeems and revives us with the gospel of Christ, as found in the deeply theological lyrics of ‘Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown’. Originally titled ‘Wrestling Jacob’, it portrays Charles Wesley’s personal conversion experience – a wrestling with God in a dark season of life, unsure of His presence, yet holding on in faith. Such desperate tenacity leads us to acknowledge our sins and brokenness, moves us to embrace Christ’s costly redemptive grace as we hear Him call us by name – God who truly sees us and knows us fully. The ‘Traveler’ is no longer unknown but is Jesus, the one who died for us – God whose very nature is Love, whose mercy reaches everyone who at the end of themselves surrender all to Him as sovereign Lord. Jacob clung on and received God’s blessing and love. Wesley, having known God’s name is Love, stopped striving and started trusting.
3. Walk On in Hope with Our Brokenness
We can stop hiding our ‘limp’, pretending to be strong, or trying to win a fight in our own strength. It is because of our weakness that others see Christ in us – His power, His love. Walking forward in newness of life, Jacob limped past the place he called Peniel, where he “saw God face to face, and yet (his) life was spared”. (v30-31) We too can walk forward with renewed Hope and purpose in spite of remaining struggles. We don’t need to be perfect to walk with God, or fully healed to help someone else. Jacob wrestled with God who marked him forever with a limp. Like Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery, our ‘cracks’ shall be made beautiful and unique by God who will not discard us but will pour His gold into them and restore us with His grace. By accepting his limp because God willed it, Jacob was blessed and set free to fulfil God’s plans for him.
God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) God’s extravagant love restores us when we submissively cling to His throne of grace and say, “It is okay.”
Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown (Charles Wesley, 1742) https://youtu.be/zs7Jq360iXI
Come, O thou Traveler unknown, whom still I hold, but cannot see!
My company before is gone, and I am left alone with thee.
With thee all night I mean to stay, and wrestle till the break of day;
with thee all night I mean to stay, and wrestle till the break of day.
I need not tell thee who I am, my misery and sin declare;
thyself hast called me by my name, look on thy hands and read it there.
But who, I ask thee, who art thou? Tell me thy name, and tell me now.
But who, I ask thee, who art thou? Tell me thy name, and tell me now.
Yield to me now, for I am weak, but confident in self-despair!
Speak to my heart, in blessing speak, be conquered by my instant prayer.
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move, and tell me if thy name is Love.
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move, and tell me if thy name is Love.
‘Tis Love! ’tis Love! Thou diedst for me, I hear thy whisper in my heart.
The morning breaks, the shadows flee, pure, Universal Love thou art.
To me, to all, thy mercies move; thy nature and thy name is Love.
To me, to all, thy mercies move; thy nature and thy name is Love.
Video And Vocals/Instrumentals Copyright (C) 2019
By Charles Elmer Szabo
(Sermon notes by Marjorie Tan)
PONDER | REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Study Scripture
Read Genesis 32:22–31 together.
a. What details or phrases stand out to you in this passage?
b. What do you notice about Jacob’s encounter with God through the night? - Recall Sermon
a. What part of the sermon spoke to you the most, and why?
b. “Despair comes when we reach the end of ourselves.” What are some signs that we’ve reached that point in our own lives?
c. How does God redeem us in the wrestling?
d. “We walk on in hope with our brokenness.” How does that idea reshape your understanding of faith or healing? - Relate Personally
a. Have you ever gone through a season where you wrestled with God – through doubt, pain, or confusion? What did you learn from that time?
b. In what areas of your life might God be inviting you to cling on to Him in your own wrestles?
c. Is there an area of hope that you can now walk on with, even from your places of brokenness? - Commit to Action
a. This week, what is one area of struggle you can bring honestly before God instead of hiding it?
b. Is there someone you can encourage who’s in a “wrestling” season right now? What might that look like?
