Wrestling With God
The sermon explores the transformative power of wrestling with God through surrender and reliance on His strength during life's crises.
Charles E. Cowman preaches about the transformative encounter between Jacob and God, where God wrestles with Jacob to bring about a new life and identity. This wrestling symbolizes the internal struggle and surrender required for God to work in our lives, leading us from the earthly to the heavenly, the human to the divine. Cowman emphasizes the need for complete surrender, letting go of our own wisdom and strength to fully rely on God for victory and transformation.
Text
"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" (Gen. 32:24).
God is wrestling with Jacob more than Jacob is wrestling with God. It was the Son of man, the Angel of the Covenant. It was God in human form pressing down and pressing out the old Jacob life; and ere the morning broke, God had prevailed and Jacob fell with his thigh dislocated. But as he fell, he fell into the arms of God, and there he clung and wrestled, too, until the blessing came; and the new life was born and he arose from the earthly to the heavenly, the human to the divine, the natural to the supernatural. And as he went forth that morning he was a weak and broken man, but God was there instead; and the heavenly voice proclaimed, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
Beloved, this must ever be a typical scene in every transformed life. There comes a crisis-hour to each of us, if God has called us to the highest and best, when all resources fail; when we face either ruin or something higher than we ever dreamed; when we must have infinite help from God and yet, ere we can have it, we must let something go; we must surrender completely; we must cease from our own wisdom. strength, and righteousness, and become crucified with Christ and alive in Him. God knows how to lead us up to this crisis, and He knows how to lead us through.
Is He leading you thus? Is this the meaning of your deep trial, or your difficult surroundings, or that impossible situation. or that trying place through which you cannot go without Him, and yet you have not enough of Him to give you the victory?
Oh, turn to Jacob's God! Cast yourself helplessly at His feet. Die to your strength and wisdom in His loving arms and rise, like Jacob, into His strength and all-sufficiency. There is no way out of your hard and narrow place but at the top. You must get deliverance by rising higher and coming into a new experience with God. Oh, may it bring you into all that is meant by the revelation of the Mighty One of Jacob!--But God
"At Thy feet I fall,
Yield Thee Up My ALL,
To suffer LIVE, OR DIE
For my Lord crucified."
Sermon Outline
- I points: - Introduction to Jacob's wrestling with God - Understanding the nature of the struggle - The significance of the transformation
- II points: - The crisis-hour in every believer's life - The necessity of surrender - The role of divine assistance
- III points: - Identifying personal trials and struggles - The call to cast oneself at God's feet - Experiencing God's strength in weakness
- IV points: - The journey from the earthly to the heavenly - The new identity in Christ - Living in the power of God
Key Quotes
“God is wrestling with Jacob more than Jacob is wrestling with God.” — Charles E. Cowman
“There comes a crisis-hour to each of us, when all resources fail.” — Charles E. Cowman
“Die to your strength and wisdom in His loving arms and rise, like Jacob, into His strength.” — Charles E. Cowman
Application Points
- Reflect on your personal struggles and identify areas where you need to surrender to God.
- Embrace the crisis-hour as an opportunity for deeper faith and transformation.
- Seek God's strength in your weaknesses, trusting that He will provide the help you need.