When God Meets Us in the Struggle of Faith

Carol Plafcan
May 30
6 min read

Lessons from Jacob’s Night of Prayer

When we wrestle with God, we are changed. Genesis 32:24-29 relates one of the strangest stories in the Bible. Jacob, the liar and deceiver, was on his way to meet his brother Esau whom he had tricked into giving up his birthright. Jacob was fearful; believing his brother might try to kill him. Alone, Jacob prayed. This ancient story shows us how God can use our darkest nights to increase our faith.

Wrestling with the Mysterious Figure

Then a figure appeared in the night and began to wrestle with him. This figure, Jacob came to realize, was God (Genesis 32:30). Jacob begged for a blessing from God. God injured him, leaving him with a limp the rest of his life, but also gave him the blessing. He also changed his name from Jacob to Israel. Name changes often signified a change in a person's character or relationship to God. It frequently was related to their role in God's plans.

From Deceiver to Israel

Jacob's name meant "supplanter," or a person who lived by deceit and trickery. Jacob was a manipulator of people. He wasn't the kind of person you would think God would pick to be the father of God's people, but then God often picks people that you and I would not to be leaders. His new name, Israel, meant "God perseveres" or "one who struggles with God".

A Life Transformed by One Night

This encounter changed, not just Jacob's name, but the path of his whole life. From one who sought blessings through manipulation, he became a man who sought God and looked to God for his blessings. Like many of us, Jacob wanted good things in whatever way he could get them. But that changed after a night of prayer and struggle. He finally understood that God's will was truly what was best.

The Limp That Taught Him Trust

The injury Jacob received that night stayed with him the rest of his life as a reminder of who his trust should be in. His trust had to be in God. He had to realize that it was God who was leading him to this life changing moment. It was God, whom he would always have to rely on, not his skills of deception. After this blessing instead of Esau meeting him with murderous intentions, Esau embraced and wept with his brother, Jacob.

A Pattern of Struggle in the Bible

Jacob's struggle with his faith and transformation was mirrored by others in the Bible: Peter, who denied Jesus three times, Thomas who doubted in the resurrection, Jonah who didn't want God to bless people he felt were undeserving, and even Moses who didn't believe people would listen to him because of his speech problems. God often asks us to do difficult things. Just as these heroes struggled, so must we.

Is God Calling You to Let Go of Doubt and Fear?

Has God told you to give up an addiction? Maybe God has told you to start a Bible study in your home but you're afraid to. Has He asked you to give more time to helping the poor and needy? We struggle with doubt needlessly, for it is not the high and mighty whom God often uses, but the weak and lowly. When we realize our weakness then we can depend on God to provide our strength.

The Promise of His Presence

Like Jacob we pray for safety and protection. What we often wish for is a life free from sorrow and pain, but that is not what we are promised. What we are promised is a Savior who will always be there with us through life's trials. It is through struggle that we grow in trust and obedience to the will of God. It serves a rich purpose in our lives. We learn to stand on His promises.

Alone, But Not Forgotten

Notice something else in Jacob's story. He was left alone (Genesis 32:24). When we are alone, the only one with us is God. He never leaves us or forsakes us (Joshua 1:5). When we are alone we can finally really hear His voice, focus on Him, and know that we have always mattered to Him (Jeremiah 1:5). Without distractions from the world and people around us we are able to better see our true selves. We can begin to see in ourselves what God sees.

God Keeps His Promises

Jacob would become the patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel. If Esau had killed him that day, the covenant made with Abraham, that his descendants would become a great nation and bless all the families of the earth, would have been jeopardized. But God always keeps His promises (Hebrews 10:23). It was Jacob's doubts that caused him to fear. His doubts created a struggle with his faith that didn't need to happen if he had truly believed God. How often do you and I doubt that God will do as He promised? Do we doubt His forgiveness for our sins? We shouldn't doubt our salvation that He has blessed us with.

Each of us should have times we see God at work to transform our lives. There are moments we can look back on and say, "Ah yes, that was God!" In Jesus we see a Man who suffered and died for us so that we could be transformed. When we struggle with God in prayer, even if it is for years, our struggles pale in comparison to His suffering. So much of our lives are spent in pretending, thinking we have it all together, when in our deepest hearts we are struggling to find that faith that transforms us.

So do we struggle for a night, a month, or years to realize God's blessings? Are we as tenacious as Jacob? Do we "hang on to God" with all of our might until there is a breakthrough in our lives? Our seriousness about our relationship with Him determines the depth and honesty of our faith. Remember, His compassion never fails.

Many people will think back on a beloved mother or grandmother who may have prayed for decades for their child to be saved. They may have struggled with believing that God does keep His promises. Perhaps they almost gave up, but they did not. They clung to God and waited for the answer to their prayer. Maybe you, as a believer today, are the answer to that prayer. But during those many years before we became a believer, we lived a life of sin and regret much like Jacob.

A Life of Regret and Redemption

While talking to Pharaoh in Genesis 47:9, Jacob says, "...few and evil have been the days of the years of my life..." Here, Jacob is 130 years old, but he acknowledged that he had not been a good person most of his life. Many of us today were blessed to have been raised in a Christian home and can not really remember ever having not believed in Christ, but some of us know about the "God of second chances." This is the God who in spite of our sin, has reached out with forgiveness, offering us His hope.

Jacob may have looked back on his life and acknowledged his sin, but God's blessing was still on His life. He still became the father of Israel, the one who perseveres. Did Jacob have regrets about some of his decisions? I believe without a doubt that he did, yet he also knew that God blessed him mightily. Can we not all say, as forgiven people, that "evil has been the days of the years of my life?"

As Jesus explains in Luke 7:47, "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Jacob seems to have "loved much." He is listed in Hebrews 11:21 as one of the 'faith heroes' of the Bible. Jacob, as an imperfect man, is so like us. It took wrestling with God to open his eyes to the fact that God's promises never fail.