Struggles With God

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32: 24-28, 30, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Jacob remained is Paddan Aram for twenty-years working for his Uncle Laban. “Fourteen years for [Laban’s] two daughters and six years for [his] flocks.” (Genesis 31:42, NIV 1984). Now, it was time for him to return to his own people. For, God has told him to “leave this land [Paddan Aram] at once and go back to your native land [the land of Canaan].” (Genesis 31:13, NIV 1984). It was on this homeward journey that Jacob wrestled with “God” and received a new name [Israel] in place of his birth name [Jacob]. From “deceiver,” to one who “struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:28, NIV 1984).

After this encounter, Jacob was a changed man and the promise that God originally made to Abraham, that he would become a nation (Israel) of many peoples (the Israelites) began to take shape. For the descendants of his twelve sons became the twelve tribes (Joseph, two half-tribes through his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh) of the nation of Israel.

My Advice – Everyone must encounter God and struggle with the question “Who do people say I am?” (Mark 8:27, NIV 1984). How they answer that question determines whether or not they “overcome” in that struggle. And just “who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:5, NIV 1984). Overcomer, “whoever believes in him is not condemned,” or not, “whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18, NIV 1984).