Struggling In Prayer
24. And Jacob was left alone; and there he wrestled with a man until the daybreak.
25. And when he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, so Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him.
26. And he said, “let me go, for the day is breaking.” And he said, “I will not let you go, except you bless me.”
27. And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
28. And he said, “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince you have power with God and with men and have prevailed.”
Genesis 32:24-28
The Real Struggle in Prayer
The common notion for most of us, is that prayer is a peaceful and tranquil place where we talk with God. We see prayer as a time where we share our needs with the Lord, and He hears us. While that is generally true, it does not give the full picture of the power of prayer, nor does it reflect the purpose of prayer. This message addresses some critical questions about prayer. First is the question: why doesn’t God give me what I want? I must also address the issue of repeating the same cycle of prayer. That cycle is we fall, we pray, God gives us another chance, we fall again, we pray, etc. The other critical question addresses the authority to pray. What right do you and I have to call upon God for anything? So, let’s look at this prayer struggle together.
Prayer can be a place of deep conflict. At times, prayer can be a place of tremendous struggle. The Apostle Paul describes spiritual warfare as “wrestling against the powers and principalities and against wickedness in high places.” This struggle and conflict certainly applies when we are praying, and Satan tries to distract us or even attack us while we are praying. From the perspective of praying against evil, the conflict is real. In such warfare, we are commanded to equip ourselves with the Full Armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-12), as we wrestle against the rulers of the darkness of this world. But what do you do and how do you handle the wrestling match when you are struggling with God? You certainly cannot win, and yet the struggle is real.
That struggle was real for the prophets of the Old Testament. They were sent by God to confront people about their sin and bring them back to God. Such boldness was often greeted with hostility and even death threats. Elijah was one such prophet. His message to Northern Israel brought him nothing but trouble and persecution from Ahab and Jezebel. As a result, Elijah struggled in prayer. His bouts with depression caused him tremendous pain. Yet, the prophet would arise from prayer with another level of boldness and greater determination to declare God’s Truth. As for results, Elijah called down fire from Heaven. He called for a draught in the land and God answered his prayer. He prayed again and God sent rain upon the land. The struggle in prayer was constant and yet Elijah was used by God to perform great signs before Israel.
But we must again address the question of what to do when we are wrestling with God in prayer? In seeking God’s blessing and favor, a wrestling match might ensue. We desperately need something from God while at the same time, God Almighty seeks to reveal His plan. The struggle is not to harm but to change. That struggle was very real for King David. In his disobedience, he had committed adultery and had blood on his hands for the death of Uriah. God did not reject David, but He certainly wrestled with him to remove the selfishness from his spirit. Here is the result of that wrestling match with God. In Psalm 51:10 David cried, “create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” So, who won the match? At the conclusion of the match, God raised David’s arm in victory for he had prevailed in prayer through the struggle. In verse 17, David proclaimed, “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not reject a broken spirit.” With those words, God raised David’s hands in praise. Prayer is a Win-win situation. If God wins then the one who praise automatically wins.
Jacob’s Struggles With God
To get a real picture of struggling in prayer, we turn our attention to a man named Jacob. His story unfolds, beginning in Genesis 25 and going through to Genesis 36. There was one word to describe his character and it is brought out in his name Jacob. His name is interpreted: “supplanter.” That was not only his name, but it was also what he did. At his birth, Jacob grabbed his brother’s heel in a desperate attempt to get out of the womb first. A supplanter will do anything to win. Their life is all about winning even if it means that others lose. A mild case of supplanting would mean cutting in line to get to the checkout counter. It could be that someone dropped a dollar bill out of their billfold and left it on the ground. The supplanter would wait until they left and pick it up. That was Jacob. As you can imagine, such a life will eventually catch up with you.
Here is where we draw some similarities between Jacob’s prayers and our prayers. We all pray for God to bless us. Jacob prayed that prayer. We all pray for God to be with us in our journeys through life. Jacob prayed the same prayer. We all pray that we would win every battle in life. Jacob prayed the exact same prayer. Those are what we call prayers from our perspective. Rarely, and I do mean rarely, do we pray our prayers from God’s perspective. That is when the struggle comes. It is not that God wants to withhold the blessings, but the prayers cannot be based on our conditions. God is a covenant God. A covenant means that the two parties must agree. Selfish prayers and self-centered motives will not be honored in God’s eyes. When we pray according to a covenant relationship with God, the Lord will always honor those prayers. Even when we fail on our part, if we turn back to the covenant and repent of our sins, God will honor our prayers. So, the struggle is real because we want to be blessed, but God wrestles that we might get right with Him.
That was what happened with Jacob. He had cheated his brother Esau out of both the birthright and the blessing. In revenge, Esau wanted to kill Jacob, so he ran out of town to live with his uncle. While living with his uncle Laban, they got into a supplanting match to see who would get the upper hand. When it looked like Jacob was winning, Laban’s attitude changed, and more threats came. So, Jacob ran out of town with his family and the livestock that he had gained. Run Supplanter, run. That was the life of Jacob and that is the life of many who will do anything they can to get ahead in life. The supplanter will even try to convince God to bless them without God having any impact on changing their lifestyle. Just grab it and go. That is the supplanter’s life goal.
Life caught up with Jacob. He had to stop running in order for God to truly bring him to the place of blessing. As a footnote, just because you possess the blessing does not mean that you know how to use the blessing. You need God for instructions.
It was obvious that Jacob was in trouble. He was in trouble physically, because his long forgotten brother Esau was on his way to meet him with four hundred men. This was one of those dreaded moments. He could not run back to Padan-Aram. He couldn’t go home because his brother wanted to prevent that. Jacob had no other choice but to turn to God. This struggle was about to get even more intense.
Jacob was exhausted mentally. Coming up with schemes is hard work. Trickery takes up a lot of energy. All the tricks he had used before left him with an empty bag and nowhere to turn. Jacob was also in trouble spiritually. While he knew about God, Jacob certainly had not walked according to God’s plan. Thus, Jacob struggled in prayer trying to receive God’s blessing and the Angel wrestled with Jacob to show him he was already blessed. God’s plan was to change Jacob from supplanter to someone great. Jacob wanted to get out of trouble, but God was going to get the trouble out of Jacob. Jacob struggled for a rescue, but God wrestled to regenerate Jacob’s heart. God’s messenger wrestled until daybreak, and it was a deadlock and then something happened.
The play by play went like this, Jacob was left alone; and there he wrestled with a man until the daybreak … And when he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, so Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him … And he said, “let me go, for the day is breaking.” And he said, “I will not let you go, except you bless me” … And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob” … And he said, “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince you have power with God and with men and have prevailed.” The Angel raised Jacob’s hand in victory but changed the way he walked. For the rest of his days, Jacob would have the limp to remind him of the struggle in prayer. Everything had changed. His name was no more Jacob; it was now Israel. No more was he the supplanter. He was now a mighty prince of God.
Did things change for Jacob as a result of prayer? Absolutely! God touched the way Jacob walked and at the same time changed his brother’s heart. Instead of taking a sword to Jacob, Esau embraced his brother in tears. What changed the situation? When Esau saw his brother limping helplessly towards him, he realized there was no need to fight a broken man. All the cheating had left him limping so there was no need to take the battle any further. The many gifts also spoke to Esau. He saw that his brother was no longer the selfish taker but had become a giver. What a blessing!
Now that we have taken a look at Jacob’s struggle in prayer, what are the take-aways that can help us pray more effectively. First, we must learn to not only struggle to receive a blessing but struggle to become God’s blessing. Engage in a holy struggle to change your attitude and your lifestyle to become more like Jesus Christ. That’s a good struggle that God will always honor. Second, struggle in prayer for the ability to admit your faults to others. Boy, that is a doozy! We can always see when others are wrong, but it is hard to admit our own faults. Take a lesson from King David who wasted no time in admitting his sin to God. Lastly, always surrender to the struggle when you know that God wants to change your walk. If something does not happen to change you as you are praying, then you really have not prayed. In conclusion, if prayer is a struggle then prayerfully you are headed in the right direction for God to work mightily when you get up off your knees. Pray, child of God, pray. Watch God work miracles.