We are still in chapter 32 of Genesis with our word for today. פְּנִיאֵל Peniel. It is used 7 times in the Old Testament. It is a compound word made up of אֵל God and פָּנֶה face, front. So face of God or presence of God. Jacob uses this word to name the place where he had this extraordinary experience. We see this place referenced five times in the Bible on two other occasions. Judges 8:7-9, 17 And from there he went up to פְּנוּאֵל Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. And he said to the men of פְּנוּאֵל Penuel, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower… And he broke down the tower of פְּנוּאֵל Penuel and killed the men of the city. 1 Kings 12:25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built פְּנוּאֵל Penuel. Jacob explains how this word became a geographical location in our chapter today. Genesis 32:29-30 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place פְּנִיאֵל Peniel, saying, “For I have seen אֱלֹהִים֙God פָּנִ֣ים אֶל־פָּנִ֔יםface to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed פְּנוּאֵל Penuel, limping because of his hip. Jacob makes an important claim that he a mere creature saw God the creator face to face and lived. Later in the Bible Moses will also make a similar claim. Exodus 33:9-11 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses...Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.
We are not sure what the full significance of Jacob wrestling with God is. We can observe that this event changed him. His hip was damaged so that he walked with a limp and he wouldn’t let go until he received a blessing. The circumstances of Jacob’s life in that he and his family’s life was threatened would be enough to break anyone. Most of us don’t fully appreciate the value of our giftedness until we have been broken by circumstances in life. In brokenness, we are offered the opportunity to see our powerlessness and neediness. These pain filled circumstances often break us of our pride-filled defiance against needing and break us of the fear that our lack of power will result in rejection. When we allow ourselves to feel the healthy emotion of healthy shame it will lead us to humility. Jesus said several times, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt. 23:12). It is interesting that both Moses and Jacob had to be humbled before they were able to stop using their gifts and abilities from a performance perspective and begin giving them to God in humility into a dependence perspective. They became highly dependent on God instead of themselves. In this way they became a blessing to themselves and everyone around them. Let me encourage you with a couple of verses about moving from high performance to high dependence. 1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Luke 11:8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. Jesus’ teaching on prayer highlights how shame moves us to humility just how dependent on God we are. And we pray without giving up because we need God to act. Healthy shame keeps us from worshiping ourselves and our giftedness. We recognize our gifts and are grateful for them. I think Jacob’s blessing was realizing from that point forward just how much he needed God. Our dependence on God is one of the greatest blessings we can have.
