Peniel: Face to Face with God
Genesis 32:22-31

A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, April 26, 1997.  In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding the strict control or total elimination of the chemical “dihydrogen monoxide.”  And for plenty of good reasons:

  • It is the a major component in acid rain.
  • It contributes to the erosion of natural landscape.
  • It accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
  • It can cause decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes
  • It causes excessive sweating, vomiting and urination.
  • It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state.
  • It can kill you if accidentally inhaled.
  • It has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.
He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.  Forty-three said yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the chemical was H2O (water).  The title of his prize winning project was, “How Gullible Are We?”  He feels the conclusion is obvious.

Gullible: easily deceived or duped.

When it comes to our relationship with God … are we gullible enough to believe that we can live the Christian life without any time being spent with God?

A pastor friend has shared with me that out 95 out of 100 people when asked if they had a consistent  time with God (devotion/quiet time) … said no.   

How long would your marriage last with those odds?  How good of a father or mother would you be with those numbers?  How good of a student would you be with percentages like that?

How good of a child of God can we be if we seldom spend time with our heavenly Father.

Now on the flip side … praise God for the 5 who consistently spend time with God the Father … for those of us who even have a “hit  & miss” time with God.

Please know my heart today … this is not a “guilt” sermon to which you walk away feeling like a total failure.  No, my intent is to encourage you and myself in several messages to come (no formal series) to develop a “TWG” … time with God … and or to add to your TWG.

You might be thinking … “I am doing pretty good on my own.”  But to think of what we are doing without, by not meeting with God ought to be enough to spur, prompt and encourage us.

Today I want us to look into the life of the Old Testament character of Jacob.  His life story is interesting in many aspects.

His name means,  “heal-catcher” , supplanter … one who tricks, cheats, deceives.  

Genesis 25:26  Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called Jacob.

It is said that Jacob “was born clutching his brother’s heal, and was grabbing at things ever after.”  (Tammy Garrison, Wrestling with God)

  • Cheated his brother Esau out of the birthright of being the first son.  
  • Conned his father Isaac into believing he was his brother in order to steal the birthright.  
  • Deceived his father-in-law to enlarge his own sheep herd. (Genesis 30:40-43; 42:1-2)
In Genesis 32:22-31 we find Jacob … preparing to encounter his brother Esau.  He is fearful and prays to God for deliverance (Gen 32:11).  Jacob then prepares gifts … of treaty or reconciliation to give to his brother.  

Jacob perhaps not knowing … had prepared for more than an encounter with man, but with God.  It would be an encounter that would change Him forever.  Jacob called this place “Peniel” … face to face with God.

Isn’t that what we need?  A face to face encounter with God that changes us for the better?

I believe there are great lessons to be found in this life changing story of Jacob ... of how and why you and I need a regular TWG .  Let’s consider them and then make use of them.

Read: Genesis 32:22-31

1. Preparing for Peniel … getting alone with God

Fearing what might happen Jacob moves his family and servants across the Jabbok river to the other side for safe keeping.

Genesis 32:22-24a  And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone;

  • Jacob was left “alone” 
“Alone” … Jacob had separated himself, putting a distance between himself and those around him.
  • Getting alone with God … provides safe keeping for yourself and your family.
If we want to be a better … husband, wife, father, mother, child, brother, sister … get alone with God on a consistent basis.
  • Jacob being alone gave access for God to enter.
In my own TWG I have started using a book titled, “Disciplines for the Inner Life” (by Bob Benson Sr. & Michael W. Benson).  It is giving me “structure” for the TWG … to which I need.  In the book the authors speak … 

“We will have to make a conscientious effort to move past the superficial in order to enter into a deeper knowledge of God.  The beginning of such an effort must be the construction of a pattern in our lives in which the voice of God has access to us.”  (preface, viiii)

If God is going to have access to our lives we are going to have make a consistent conscious effort to get alone with God.

Psalms 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

  • Clear out a place for God to meet you and you to meet God.
Getting away and getting alone with God has great merit, as we see in the life of Jesus.

Matthew 14:23  And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.

Jesus made time to get alone with the Father, because He valued time with the Father.  We too must value and find the time to get alone with God.

Samuel, my youngest son, said to me one time when he and I were making a trip to Wal-Mart to buy some baseball stuff … “Dad sometimes I like it being just me and you.  You know the father and son thing.”  That’s pretty good insight for a 9 year old!

To get alone with God we must prepare ourselves, 

  • physically with a place … to meet with God
  • emotionally with a position … to meet with God
  • spiritually with a peace … to meet with God
Psalms 62:5  My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.

2. Prevailing at Peniel … getting aside with God

Genesis 32:24-26 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"

  • Jacob being alone was approached by God.
I like that … it brings a great deal of comfort to me to know that God does the approaching.  

It tells me God is the One who …

    • wants to spend time with me.
    • watches to spend time with me.
    • will spend time with me.
  • Jacobs TWG quickly became WWG … wrestling with God!
One of the prayers of invocation this week in my TWG said, “Cleanse my life from all that negates and crushes out faith, and fill it with the purity and honesty which foster it.  Cleanse me from the evil which makes unbelief its friend …”

A friend I shared it with said, “This is almost more than I can stand at the moment.”

God when He gets us alone wants to deal with the superficial and build up the supernatural.

  • TWG avails us with the opportunity to get beside God and wrestle with the difficult issues of our lives.
    • Maybe Jacob struggled with who will be in control of his life. 
He had been one of those guys who was always making the decision and controlling the situation for himself.   But now the struggling ensued of who would control … Jacob or would he turn it over to God?
    • Maybe Jacob struggled with the character change he needed.
Jacob was going to be used by God, but in the process there would be a change of character.  He would become God’s man.

Anytime we struggle aside God, we are changed.  Jacob’s physical change … hip touched … reminds of the change we may need in how we “walk” with God.

  • Jacob stayed in the struggle until he prevailed!
We need to understand that this wrestling match with God was one of “self-limitation” by God.  God could have pinned Jacob and won the match at any moment.  

An illustration on a lesser scale … in tennis I can beat Samuel (9 years old son) all the time.  I could play in such a way that he would never win.  However I like to let him win at times, and doing so he gains not only the experience of play, but the confidence to play again.

God was choosing to be vulnerable so that  Jacob could prevail.  I believe God wanted Jacob to pin him down ... not in the sense to have victory over God ... but victory in God.  I believe God wants us to wrestle and struggle with the issues of our lives so that we pin Him down to be the strength of our life.

“God meets us on our own level and within the manner of our personality.”  - Tammy Garrison

I believe God welcomes the struggle with us.  He is not threatened by our overpowering problems we might bring with us in our “alone” time with Him.

Jacob was tenacious in his struggle with God … he was not letting go!  How many problems have prevailed over us because we let go of God too soon?

  • There is a blessing in the struggle
Though it might sound like a cliché … “God is bigger than any problem you have.”  We find it to be true when we get alone and aside of God.  

It is there that God allows us to prevail over those long standing holds on our lives.

In your TWG … get alone and get aside of God.

3. Preserving at Peniel … getting along with God

Genesis 32:27-31 So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." 28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.

In Jacob’s preparing and prevailing … there came a point of preservation.  

Jacob would no longer run from man (Esau, Isaac, Laban) or God … he would now go “along” with God.

Jacob would leave Peniel having encountered God face to face and changed forever … a point of preservation. 

  • God knows your name
God in asking of Jacob’s name was not the inquiry for Himself as it was for Jacob.  
    • Did Jacob know who he was?
    • Do we know who we are in God?
Isaiah 43:1  But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

· God let’s you know Him 

Jacob’s inquiry of the name of who he was wrestling with, speaks to our need to know God.    God knows us and He wants us to know Him … therefore He will find a place and a way to meet us to bless us by making Himself known.

Genesis 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."

Isn’t that where we need to meet God … Peniel … where we are face to face with God.

There is a meeting place as close as our closet door where Jesus invites and encourages us to find.

Matthew 6:6  But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.

Thomas a’ Kempis said, “The more you visit it, the more you will want to return.”

To get alone, aside and along God is where we want to return again and again.

Conclusion:

Practical Applications:

  • Make time to meet with God … sacrifice 30 minutes.
  • BPT … Bible, Place, Time
  • “Begin small and start promptly” – Quaker saying
  • Start early to seize the day … let His thoughts invade you before others do.  (Ps 63:1  O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You;)
  • Start late to end or settle your day.
Psalms 119:147-148  I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word. 148 My eyes are awake through the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word.

Like most other things we do … we want to know what we will get out of it.  The best answer is … 

John 1:39  He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day

Don’t be gullible to believe you can go without meeting with God.  Prepare, Prevail and be Preserved in your (TWG) time with God!

Amen!

This sermon was preached by Robert AuBuchon at Trinity Baptist Church in 2002. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise  indicated, are taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission.  All  rights reserved.