If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg
Week 10: Chapter 9 — The Magnificent Defeat
Read Chapter 9 of If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. Primary Scripture: Genesis 32:22–32; 2 Corinthians 12:7–10.
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Ortberg uses Jacob's all-night wrestling match with God as a picture of the kind of faith that refuses to let go — even in exhaustion, even in pain — and discovers blessing on the other side of the struggle.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Ortberg calls Jacob's encounter at the Jabbok a 'magnificent defeat' — a moment where losing to God turned out to be the greatest victory of Jacob's life. Have you ever experienced something like this — a surrender to God that felt like defeat but produced unexpected blessing?
2.The chapter argues that there are moments when God meets us in ways that are painful, disorienting, and even wounding — and that this is not a sign of his absence or anger but of his deep work in us. How does this square with your understanding of God? Is it difficult or comforting to hear?
3.Jacob refuses to let go until he receives a blessing — a relentless, almost demanding posture with God. Ortberg frames this not as presumption but as the kind of desperate, persistent faith that God honors. Do you bring this kind of tenacity to your own prayers and encounters with God? What holds you back?
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