Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Genesis 32:26-27 ESV
All Jacob’s life he had struggled for blessings. Jacob had tricked Esau, his older brother into selling him the right of the first born (Quite a significant financial advantage in his day). Later when their father had decided to give Esau the family blessing, Jacob ran in ahead of Esau and fooled his blind father into giving him that blessing instead. When news of Jacob’s deceit got to Esau there was murder in his heart and Jacob fled to his mother’s family. So, instead of getting his father’s blessings he spent 20 years working for his uncle Laban. In today’s verse, Jacob was finally and totally alone in his struggle with God’s angel.
By this time, he was entirely out of strength and yet he hung on to his attacker, refusing to let him go. Jacob had gotten so much along the way. He was rich; he had married the girl of his dreams and had many sons and daughters. Jacob had all these accomplishments, but he feared his brother Esau. He had so much stuff and yet so little of God’s blessing of peace. As Jacob continued to struggle the angel finally agrees to bless him, but not as Jacob had imagined. Instead of giving him more things, the angel changed Jacob’s name.
“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Genesis 32:28
What a strange victory God had planned for Jacob, and He has that same strange and yet wonderful victory available for you and me. Whenever we truly meet with God, we come away with a new name, a new future and a new hope. When we choose a name, that name can be changed. But when God chooses our name, it sticks forever. The name God offers to give us is our greatest blessing, because it is written down in Heaven. It is the name that Jesus calls us when we find him by faith and refuse to let go! What is your name?
Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. Genesis 33:14 KJV
I love the scene from The Chosen, when Jacob’s sons are digging a well and a neighbor comes over to tell them they probably won’t find any water and then falls into a conversation with Jacob about God. You see no one had ever heard of the God of Israel because Jacob’s name had only recently been changed to Israel. So, the neighbor begins to ask what kind of god Jacob served. First, Jacob begins explaining that God created the universe, that He is invisible and that they do not have a statue of Him anywhere. But as their talk is coming to an end Jacob adds, “Oh yes and He broke my hip!” Now I personally have always found that fact pretty curious. Why would God do that? Maybe the Bible answers that question in this scene from the day after the hip breaking. Jacob had come to meet with his brother Esau and is both astonished and grateful for the mercy he encounters. And when I came to today’s verse I simply thought that Jacob was again dealing in half truth’s when he told his brother to go on ahead. But then I remembered why Jacob had to follow slowly. God had put his hip out of joint and we are told that Jacob walked with a limp because of that for the rest of his life.
Do you feel like God has broken your hip? Does it seem that other people can hurry ahead to do all kinds of exciting things, but your disability holds you back? But just as God did with Jacob, He has not caused us injury to harm us. Instead, God is teaching us to walk softly with the lambs. You see, all his life Jacob had been running. He always did everything he could to get ahead of everyone else. But after Jacob met with God, he lost his ability to run. God wanted Jacob to walk softly with the lambs, and just in case he forgot, he was given a limp. Every step reminded him to go at the pace that God had chosen. Maybe the limp in your life looks different than Jacob’s but when you struggle with that weakness and pain, remember that God has given us every one of His children a limp and each of us some lambs to care for until we finish our journey home.
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