How to Satisfy the Hunger beneath the Hunger – Jacob Genesis 32:22-32

Genesis 32:22-32 (NIV) 
    That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. [23] After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. [24] So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. [25] When the man saw that he could not overpower him, 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 men 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."
    [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 32:24 (NIV) 
    So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.

1. To encounter God in the inner depth of our lives, we have to meet Him personally and alone

Genesis 31:3 (NIV) 
    Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."

Genesis 32:9-10 (NLT) 
    Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me to return to my land and to my relatives, and you promised to treat me kindly. [10] I am not worthy of all the faithfulness and unfailing love you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home, I owned nothing except a walking stick, and now my household fills two camps!

2. To encounter God in the inner depth of our lives, we have to meet Him in our weakness, when we are most open to Him

God has to wrestle us into a transformed life rather than comfort us into a transformed life.  He has to wrestle us in. 

Genesis 32:28 (NLT) 
    "Your name will no longer be Jacob," the man told him. "It is now Israel, because you have struggled with both God and men and have won."

Genesis 32:25 (NIV) 
    When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.

Genesis 32:26 (NLT) 
    Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is dawn."  But Jacob panted, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

3. To encounter God in the inner depth of our lives, we have to meet Him in the center and not just at the margins of our lives

The deepest and most important wrestling in our lives are not with our relational, material and physical issues but with putting God in the center of our lives

Genesis 28:20-21 (NLT) 
    Then Jacob made this vow: "If God will be with me and protect me on this journey and give me food and clothing, [21] and if he will bring me back safely to my father, then I will make the Lord my God.

We too have to decide to become a person who moves from knowing about God to knowing God personally

Genesis 32:26 (NLT) 
    …But Jacob panted, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

We begin to encounter God when we decide that we want Him more than the things and blessings He can get for us

Genesis 32:28-30 (NLT) 
    "Your name will no longer be Jacob," the man told him. "It is now Israel, because you have struggled with both God and men and have won."
    [29] "What is your name?" Jacob asked him.
    "Why do you ask?" the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
    [30] Jacob named the place Peniel—"face of God"—for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared."

Genesis 32:25 (NLT) 
    When the man saw that he couldn't win the match, he struck Jacob's hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket.

4. To encounter God in the inner depth of our lives, we have to meet Him in His weakness at the cross

What will change us is when we realize how a powerful God can choose to become weak just for me, in order that my weakness can be turned into strength

I am grateful to Tim Keller, from whom much of this sermon came from…