Children’s Sermon

Genesis 32:22-31

Wrestling with God

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Genesis 32:22-31
Wrestling with God

Today’s story is about a man named Jacob. Jacob had a twin brother and we learn that Jacob had not been kind to his brother. In fact, Jacob had been unfair and had treated him badly.

Now he found out that his brother was coming to see him and he was frightened because he thought his brother would want to harm him.

He sent people on ahead to meet his brother and he also sent many gifts thinking that perhaps this would cause his brother to act more kindly toward him.

That night, while Jacob was awaiting the visit of his brother, the Bible tells us, “Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day” (32:24). Jacob didn’t know exactly who he was wrestling with because it was dark and he couldn’t see the man’s face, but Jacob felt as if he was wrestling with God.

I don’t know if you have ever experienced anything like this, but sometimes, after we have made a bad choice, we become troubled by what we have done. The problem always seems worse when we go to bed and are alone with out thoughts. We worry and try to figure out what to do – how to make it right. We may feel frightened, as Jacob did, and it may seem as if we are wrestling with God.

Even though there are a lot of things we don’t understand about Jacob’s story, this much we know: Jacob kept wrestling until daybreak. This is a way of saying that Jacob did not give up on his problem.

That is a lesson we can take from this story. No matter how troubled we are, we need courage and the determination to continue our efforts to solve our problem and make things right.

After all of his struggles, Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face” (32:30)
and God blessed him.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible