Genesis 32:24-32
In Isaiah 57:15 we read:
For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15)
If we are to have God’s presence in our lives, we must be broken. This does not mean being crushed by Satan. It means that we stop relying on ourselves and rely instead on God. To be broken means to reach that measure of weakness and helplessness on our part where nothing is left in us to hinder the flow and working of God’s grace and power in us and in our lives. As long as there is self-confidence in us, a craving for self-assertion, and pride, this is impossible. We have to make the effort to keep an attitude of brokenness. This is a spiritual sacrifice (Psalm 51:17).
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)
In Genesis 32:24-32 we read about the breaking of Jacob. Let us look at it more closely and take in the spiritual truths we can draw from it.
So Jacob was left alone, (Genesis 32:24)
Usually, when God breaks us, we are left alone — alone with God. Then it is as though all our friends and all those we have counted on either will not or cannot help us.
and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. (Genesis 32:24)
This “man” was in fact the Angel of the Lord. He appears often in the Old Testament and is one of God’s theophanies, or appearances — a visible manifestation of the invisible God. God is spirit, and no one has ever seen Him in the fullness of His being. Today He speaks to us mainly through the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. But sometimes, in biblical times, when He wished to commune with His creatures — people — He appeared in a visible form, as a man who shows up, delivers his message, and then ascends or disappears.
When the man saw that he could not overpower him, (Genesis 32:25)
Jacob was evidently quite strong and determined to win. He overpowered this “man.” But then the Angel of the Lord resorted to His supernatural power and “touched” the socket of Jacob’s hip.
he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32:25-30)
The “man” Jacob wrestled with was no ordinary man. He was a visible manifestation of God. Jacob was aware of this. That is why he said, “I saw God.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon. (Genesis 32:31-32)
This was the most important and pivotal moment in Jacob’s life — the moment of his breaking —
* when his strength was broken;
* when his name was changed;
* when Jacob died and Israel was born.
Indeed, in his struggle with God he prevailed. He got what he wanted. He was blessed. But he overcame not by strength, but by weeping and pleading to God (Hosea 12:3-4):
In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. 4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there— (Hosea 12:3-4)
I. The need for brokenness.
Several distinct periods stand out in the biblical story of Jacob:
I WANT TO BE
Before he met God at Peniel, Jacob wanted to be “something” in this life. He wanted to achieve his dreams, to see the fulfillment of the promise his mother had told him about so many times. The promise that he would be over his older brother and over others in this world (Genesis 25:23):
The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23)
Jacob longed to be on top, to be something more… This desire to prove himself drove him to stop at nothing. To succeed, he spared no effort and was not particular about his means — anything, so long as he could see what he had achieved.
It was precisely from this that all his mistakes and troubles flowed.
* Twice he lied.
Once he tricked his brother into selling him his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34).
Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) (Genesis 25:29-30)
Can you picture the scene? Esau has spent all day roaming the fields in search of game and now returns home exhausted. And from far off the sweet smell of a well-cooked, warm meal reaches his nose. His mouth waters… He says to Jacob, “Brother, please, serve me some!” But listen to Jacob’s heartless reply:
Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” (Genesis 25:31)
Jacob took advantage of his brother’s weakness and extorted him.
“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” 33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:32-34)
Then he deceived his father, disguising himself as his brother while Esau was out in the field, in order to receive the blessing of the firstborn (Genesis 27:36).
Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?” (Genesis 27:36)
THE HARVEST OF SOWING TO THE FLESH
Just when he thought his success in life was finally secured — he had both the birthright and his father’s blessing — that is exactly when the troubles began. The reason was that Jacob had taken his father’s blessing by deceit, but he still did not have God’s blessing. He received that only when he was broken at Peniel.
* Twice he was deceived.
First Laban deceived him over his wife (Genesis 29:15-26). This was a very serious intrusion into his personal life.
Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” 16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. 18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. 21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.” 22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. 24 And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant. 25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” 26 Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. (Genesis 29:15-26)
Then Laban changed Jacob’s wages ten times (Genesis 31:6-7):
You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. (Genesis 31:6-7)
* Besides being deceived twice, Jacob was also pursued twice.
Once he was fleeing from his brother (Genesis 27:41-45).
Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” (Genesis 27:41-45)
After that he was chased by his father-in-law (Genesis 31:20-23).
Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. 21 So he fled with all he had, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed for the hill country of Gilead. 22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. (Genesis 31:20-23)
Jacob truly reaped a “rich harvest” from his sins. He learned by experience that “a man reaps what he sows.”
SUCCESS IN LIFE
Indeed, outwardly, Jacob achieved a great deal in his life. Everything he had come to Harran with was only his staff (Genesis 32:10). In his prayer to God he says:
I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. (Genesis 32:10)
Now, in time, thanks to God’s blessing and his own hard work, Jacob had a large family, twelve children, great herds, servants, camels, donkeys, and a great deal of property. But all of this cost him much bitterness, family troubles, and constant anxiety. Jacob was squeezed as if in a vise — on one side was his father-in-law Laban, and on the other his brother Esau. God told him to return to his homeland. But there his brother Esau was waiting for him, the brother who twenty years earlier had threatened him with death.
Now Jacob dreaded this unavoidable meeting. Up to this point many of his ambitions had been realized, but along with them a great deal of fear of the unknown lay hidden in his soul.
God loved him and was concerned for him. But He could not act freely in Jacob’s life, because Jacob’s “self” was constantly getting in the way. This problem had to be dealt with once and for all. And the only way for Jacob to lean fully, to rest completely in the hand of Yahweh — the only way for him to stop relying on himself and to begin trusting God alone — was for him to be totally broken and crushed.
II. The act of brokenness.
BROKEN AND CRUSHED
This is why the meeting at Peniel was necessary. The struggle that night at the ford of the Jabbok cost Jacob everything he had — both his name and his strength.
God touched his body. By touching the socket of his hip, He took away his strength. Then He also changed his name. In this way God left Jacob nothing to prove.
Having shown him His power and His glory, God also left him nothing to be afraid of. For Jacob had seen God face to face and his life had been spared! After this meeting he no longer had anything to fear.
Jacob left Peniel changed — carrying in his body the mark of God’s touch.
* The old battle was over.
* The old fire was put out.
* The old motives and ambitions were laid aside.
An emptiness was left in him that only God could fill. He had become weak enough that there was nothing left in him to hinder the flow of God’s grace and power.
THE HOUSE OF GOD
Up to this moment Jacob did not know God personally. He had made use of His blessings and guidance. But he had not sought Him in order to commune with Him and worship Him.
When God first revealed Himself to him at Luz, Jacob was not thinking so much about the communion he could have with Yahweh as about the benefits he would receive from being under the protection of his father’s God. He was not thinking about God’s face, but about the place where God appeared to him. That is why he called it “Bethel,” which meant “the house of God.” His whole prayer consisted of God keeping him and providing him with food and clothing (Genesis 28:10-22).
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” (Genesis 28:10-16)
This is what happens to us too when we come to believe in God — we begin to come to church and to realize that God is here!
17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” 18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Genesis 28:17-22)
THE FACE OF GOD
Twenty years later, there by the ford of the river Jabbok, things had to be changed. Jacob could no longer ask God for His name (Genesis 32:29) — he had to know Him!
This time Jacob was struck not by the place where God met him, but by God’s face. He was thinking not about the house of God, but about God Himself. That is why he called the place “Peniel,” which meant “the face of God.” Now Jacob was not seeking benefits, but a way to come closer to God in order to worship Him. After this meeting he raised his first altar, which he named El Elohe Israel — God, the God of Israel (Genesis 33:18-20).
Jacob no longer thought about his blessings, but about his relationship with God, about His holiness, glory, and power. God’s aim had been achieved — Jacob had been turned from a careerist into a worshiper.
FROM CAREERIST TO WORSHIPER
In time God appeared to Jacob once more, telling him to return to Bethel, to live and worship Him there (Genesis 35:1, 6-7, 9-15). Then He confirmed His covenant with him and blessed him.
1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. 14 Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel. (Genesis 35:1, 6-7, 9-15)
I believe these three meetings of Jacob with God speak to us about our own spiritual life as well.
We all pass through “Bethel” — the place where the Church, the house of God, becomes for us a gate, and Christ — the way to heaven. Our spirits are born again. We are saved and can rejoice in all the privileges we have as God’s children. But there still burns in us that inner desire to be “something” — both in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. Our earthly ambitions to prove ourselves, to achieve our dreams, to be above others go on living, disguised under the mask of religiosity and piety.
This is the tragedy of our life. God does not use the “great ones.” He seeks the insignificant (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
THE POINT OF BROKENNESS
If we want to see the power and to know the person of God, then many of the things we once counted precious in our lives will have to go. All of us need to pass through this point of brokenness, where we feel that nothing is left to us except God. Only then can we be open to the things He wants to do in and through us. Up to that point there is still far too much left in us of our old life, which stands in God’s way.
It is not only our weaknesses that God has to deal with. It is also those sides of our personality and experience that we regard as strong and positive in us, because very often they are precisely the places where we most fail to lean fully on God and where we fall.
God’s ways are unsearchable and beyond finding out. They often begin first with ruin and death — death to everything that belongs to our old nature.
III. Other examples of brokenness — the cross, the broken vessel, and Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
THE WAY OF JESUS
We must understand the way of Jesus. He lived and revealed the glory of God by humbling Himself — even to death on a cross. For Christ, brokenness was a way of life long before He went to Golgotha. In Philippians 2:5-11 we read:
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
The reason for the might of His ministry was that, on the one hand, Satan had nothing in common with Him (John 14:30):
I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, (John 14:30)
On the other hand, His heavenly Father had given Him His Spirit without measure (John 3:34):
For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. (John 3:34)
God desires the same for us — that our character have nothing in common with the character of the devil, and that God’s Spirit have full control over us. But the limitations of our own hearts halt His working in us. Things left over from the devil and from our old nature in us give the enemy of our souls a pretext for his constant meddling in our lives. Rubbish of self-concern, bitterness, pride, selfishness, and rebellion clogs our hearts and hinders the work of the Holy Spirit. This is why we need to go through our own spiritual “Peniel.” We must be broken. Only then can God heal our lives and begin to reveal Himself freely in us.
The Lord began His “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7) with the words:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
They show us that brokenness is not weakness, but the condition for the working of God’s power in us.
A BROKEN VESSEL
When Mary anointed Jesus, the alabaster jar had to be broken so that the perfume could be poured out on Jesus’ head (Mark 14:3).
While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. (Mark 14:3)
In the same way, we too need to be “broken” before the anointing of the Holy Spirit can begin to flow freely out of us. Until the “self” is moved aside, God cannot make us what He wants us to be.
A THORN IN THE FLESH
In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, sharing his own experiences, the apostle Paul writes:
or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. (2 Corinthians 12:7)
We do not know for certain what this “thorn in the flesh” was. But its purpose was certainly to keep Paul broken.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)
This weakness was the necessary condition for the working of God’s grace and power in the apostle!
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
These very things — “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, difficulties for Christ” — were most likely Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Perhaps it was precisely these that were caused by the “messenger of Satan” who constantly harassed Paul.
For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
WE MUST PASS THROUGH “PENIEL”
If we have passed through “Bethel,” then before we return there again, we must pass through “Peniel” — the place of brokenness,
* where Jacob died and Israel was born;
* where we become weak, so that Christ’s power may rest upon us;
* where we are “broken,” so that the anointing of the Holy Spirit may begin to flow freely from us;
* where we stop living and Christ begins to live in us.
And not only this. We must stop seeking God only for the sake of His blessings or only for the sake of the Church — His house. We must stop being spiritual careerists, striving only after a higher position in the Church or in society. If we go on thinking or acting as though we were independent and untouchable, God will very soon humble us. He has His own ways and means of “touching” us and taking away everything that stands in His way.
He loves us, and that is why He breaks us — so that there may be nothing in us to keep us from seeking His face.
* To seek Him for His own sake, for His glory, holiness, goodness, and power — for who He is, for His person!
* To seek Him not for the benefits, but for the communion itself, which was made possible for us through the cross!
The meaning of our existence is to commune and to have a relationship with God. Only when this is realized will the emptiness in us be entirely filled, and only then will we be truly satisfied!