Prevailing prayer (part II)

In Part I we looked at the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel in Genesis 32. We found out that Jacob not only wrestled with the angel, he even “prevailed” in the contest – in the sense of being granted his request for a blessing. We also saw that before the contest was over, the angel dislocated Jacob’s hip joint, with the result that, when the sun rose the next morning, “He was limping on his thigh.” As we focus in even closer on this particular aspect of this story, we will discover a powerful revelation.

The word “prevail” means, “To gain ascendancy through strength.” This is particularly easy to see in a physical contest such as wrestling, where the stronger contestant has a distinct advantage. Once the angel dislocated Jacob’s hip, Jacob was instantly rendered weak, and at a clear disadvantage. Obviously most of us will most likely never find ourselves in a physical wrestling match with an angel. But in Ephesians 6:12 Paul makes it clear that we do wrestle against spiritual opponents, for which reason he admonished us in verse 10 of that passage to “Be strong in the Lord.”

Ultimately, our level of “strength in the Lord” will determine how successful we are in our spiritual battles. Jesus made this point very clear in Luke 11:21-22:

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.”

This parable illustrates the simple truth that in spiritual contests, as in physical contests of strength, the stronger opponent has the advantage, and will most likely be the one who prevails. But as we think back to the story of Jacob, having his hip dislocated and “limping” away from his contest with the angel, it is hard to see him as the strong one. And this is precisely the revelation that this story has to teach us.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 the apostle Paul had an encounter with The Lord in which he asked him to remove something he referred to as a “thorn in the flesh” from his life. But rather than grant his request, Jesus replied that his grace was sufficient, and then added this incredibly powerful statement: “My power is made perfect in weakness.”

As a result of this revelation, the apostle Paul went on to declare, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”

Throughout scripture, countless battles were fought by men engaged in physical, hand-to-hand combat. Obviously the physical strength of the men involved in such contests played a great part in determining the outcome, for which reason kings place a high value on physical strength. But Psalm 147:10 declares that The Lord, “does not take pleasure in the legs of a man.” Physical strength means nothing to God for, as many bible stories illustrate, it is ultimately the one whose “strength is in the Lord” that will prevail.

At this point we begin to see the significance of Jacob’s hip being put out of joint. Like the apostle Paul, it was actually through his weakness (a dislocated hip) that Jacob was able to experience the strength of the Lord. And this same principle applies to all of us as well. At some point in our maturing in the Lord, we begin to see that it is not in our strength at all, but rather in our weakness that we will truly experience perfected or fully matured strength. And it is then that we will truly begin to prevail in our spiritual battles.