In Genesis 32:22-32 we see a vital and crucial experience in the life of Jacob – his being broken. Before then, he passed through a long process of supplanting, cheating his brother and dad, running away from his home for fear of his life, working for Laban for 20 years (7 years for Leah, 7 more years for Rachel, and 7 years for his possessions), running away from his uncle Laban and being protected by God, and now he is about to face his brother Esau coming toward him with a group of 400 armed men.
He was afraid for his life, so he divided his possessions into two camps, sending one camp ahead to meet Esau with a gift (thinking that if Esau is angry at him he will be appeased by the gift, or in the worst case he will kill the first camp but spare the second), and the second camp with him and Rachel coming behind.
One night, after he got everyone else to cross the river, Jacob remained in Peniel, and a man struggled with him the whole night. Jacob wouldn’t let that man (who was God Himself incarnate) win, so He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip at the thigh muscle (Gen. 32:22) and caused him to limp.
This is a very significant and crucial part of Jacob’s life; God’s coming to wrestle with him was to expose Jacob that he was so strong in his natural man.
Even after 20 years of dealings Jacob was not transformed; he was still very strong in his natural man, and he would not give up wrestling for a whole night. Then, God touched him, and Jacob limped; this was the beginning of Jacob’s transformation. If you read Genesis 33 further you will see that outwardly Jacob did not change much, but inwardly he was touched and exposed, and he limped.
It is the same with us in our Christian experience today: even after going through many experiences and dealings from the Lord, we may not be transformed yet. We are still very strong in our natural man, and we wrestle with God to the end, not letting Him win.
Then, God touches us at a particular spot, shining His light on our natural man, and inwardly we limp. Outwardly we may be similar as before, but inwardly we are no longer whole.
The Lord Wrestled with Jacob in order to Expose how Great His Natural Strength Was
Why did God Himself come to wrestle with Jacob in Gen. 32, right before he was about to meet his brother and his army? And how come God Himself could not defeat Jacob in wrestling? When Jacob was along in the depths of the night, being both afraid of his life and desperate concerning his situation, God came as a man and wrestled with him until the break of dawn (Gen. 32:24).
The Lord could have defeated him right away, but He didn’t subdue Jacob immediately because He wanted to expose to him how natural he was and how great his natural strength was.
Then, the Lord touched the socket of Jacob’s hip at the thigh muscle and Jacob limped; this touching of the socket of Jacob’s hip at the thigh muscle (which is the strongest muscle in the body) signifies the touching of Jacob’s natural life, his natural strength.
He still continued to be natural, but inwardly he was changed; outwardly, he still tried to do this or that to cheat others, but inwardly he was touched by the Lord. He still tried to appease his brother Esau and outwardly humble himself before him, but God took care of the situation. Esau was not angry at him, neither did he want to kill him; rather, he hugged Jacob and kissed him (Gen. 33:1-4).
All Jacob’s fears were products of his own worrying, and all he had done in exercising his natural skill and ability to save himself was in vain. God had protected Jacob from Laban by appearing to Laban in a dream (31:24), and He had aroused Esau’s brotherly love toward Jacob. These were God’s marvelous acts to care for His chosen one. Thus, Jacob, who had God’s promises and was on the way to reach God’s goal, did not need to fear what was behind him or what was ahead of him. Instead of trusting in his own striving, he should have rested in God and in His all-sufficient care (cf. Phil. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 5:7). (Genesis 33:4, footnote 1, Holy Bible Recovery Version)
Today the Lord is also carrying out marvelous acts for us, His chosen ones, beyond what we can imagine. We need to stop struggling and wrestling with Him as He touches us, and cast all our anxieties on Him, for He cares for us (Phil. 4:6-7)!
His peace needs to be enthroned in us and make its home in our heart. God uses everything and everyone in our environment to deal with us and break us so that we may gain more of Christ! Anything bringing us to anxiety is an opportunity to cash in and gain more Christ, to keep us in union with Him, and to cast all things on Him to gain Him more!
God has to Break our Natural Life – He has to Touch our Natural Life in a Drastic Way
From Jacob’s experience we can see that God has to break our natural life; He has to touch our natural life in a drastic way. In religion the way is to change man’s outward behavior, improving his outward acts and expression; God’s way in His economy is to touch man’s inward life in order to change his inward being.
God doesn’t want us to improve our behavior or to be better people; He wants to shine on us, expose us, and show us how natural we are and how strong we are in our natural life. This shining, this exposing of the natural man, will cause us to “limp”.
This is the kind of experience that makes us the people of God. One day God will shine on you and show you how evil, wicked, and conniving you are. When God shows you who you are, you will not be able to lift up your head. God’s light will terminate you and force you to admit that you are finished. You will acknowledge that you dare not serve God anymore and that you are not qualified to serve Him any longer! From that point on, you will no longer trust in yourself. This is the discipline of the Holy Spirit. (Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 35, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” pp. 12-13)
If we are good people, that is, if our behavior is good, we are gentle and kind, and we don’t make mistakes, it is more difficult for the Lord to work Himself into you – because you are “so good”! If we are like Jacob, so natural and supplanting, tricking others to have our own way with them and obtain what we desire, we will wrestle with God and not let Him win.
In our Christian experience, God needs to touch us again and again; He may not touch us only once and for all, but as we wrestle with Him for a while, He will touch us again and again. He knows where the problem is; He knows where we are strong in our natural man, and He touches us at that certain crucial spot, and this causes us to be lame, no longer walking the same as before in our inward being.
May the Lord break through in us, and may we get to the point where we are touched by Him. We shouldn’t seek outward correction or improvement but inward change and dealing before the Lord. When the Lord touches us at a certain crucial spot, we are lame, can no longer be the same in our inward being, and limp, no longer being whole.
The reason God touches our natural being and exposes us is because He wants to work Himself into us – yet we are so full of our self and our natural man! God wants to work Himself into us and bring forth the new creation; for this, our outward man is daily being consumed, yet our inner man is being renewed day-by-day (2 Cor. 4:16).
We should not lose heart as we see that our outer man is decaying and our natural man is being broken by the Lord; if we are open to the Lord and cooperate with Him, the inward man will be renewed and become stronger to live Christ for God’s magnification day-by-day!
Lord Jesus, break through in us! We don’t want to outwardly improve our behavior; we seek to know You and be touched by You inwardly. Lord, shine on us and expose our natural man. You know what we are inwardly, and You know how strong we are in our natural man. Lord, break through in us. Save us from remaining whole. May we wrestle with You until we are touched by You inwardly and are not the same inwardly. Oh Lord, how we love You! Keep us open to You as You touch us so that our inner man would be renewed day by day as our outer man is being consumed!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-Study of Genesis (msgs. 73-75), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 2 / msg 2, Chosen, Dealt with, and Broken.
- Recommended further reading: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, chs. 9-10 (by Watchman Nee).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Oh Lord, break through. / Lord, gain in me. / Lord, I want You my all to be. / Oh Lord, break through. / Lord, gain in me. / Oh Lord, replace me totally. / Lord, I surrender / My all to You. / Right now I open / To let You flow through. (Song on the Lord breaking through)
# Oh, conquer me dear Lord, / And never let me win. / May Thou defeat me all the time / Till I’m subdued within. (Song on Being Conquered by God)
# It is not by struggling, / But by yielding all, / I may rest from labor, / All my burden fall. / It is not resolving, / But Thyself to heed, / I’m from sin delivered / And from bondage freed. (Hymns #751)
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