The sermon traces Jacob’s story from his youthful deception of his father Isaac and Esau’s resulting grudge, through God’s call in Genesis 31:3 to “return to the land of your fathers,” and into the night at the Jabbok river where Jacob, alone and afraid of Esau’s approach, wrestles with a mysterious man until daybreak.
The sermon draws out how God works in a mysterious way even through Jacob’s fear and the costly gifts he sends ahead to appease Esau, and how the wrestling match becomes the turning point: Jacob is renamed Israel – “for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” – marking Peniel as the place where he saw God face to face. The message closes on God’s sovereignty even in the struggles and wounds He allows in a believer’s life.