What Is Your Name?
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Genesis 32:27 to Jacob…
The Context; Jacob was on his way back to the place where he called home, and where he feared he would meet his estranged brother Esau. Camped for the night, Jacob went off by himself to a place where God, in the form of a man, wrestled with him to the point of dislocating Jacob's hip. Whether it was faith or proud tenacity we do not know (both things were common with Jacob), but Jacob refused to quit wrestling "unless you bless me." In response, God changed Jacob's name to "Israel" because Jacob had "striven with God and with men and have prevailed." That attitude, that behavior would prove to be both great heartache and great blessing for Jacob who would be the father of the God's people the Israelites.
God Asks Us: What is your name? no longer Jacob, but Israel..
jne Names are meaningful. Some people grow into their name, some grow out of it. Some people bring honor to their name, some people bring shame. David Roper wrote a book entitled "Fools God Uses." It is about Jacob, the son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham, the brother of Esau. None of those men were great by their own doing. They each give us examples of how not to live. Jacob, whom God renamed Israel and made him the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, spent much of his life serving himself, being true to his name Jacob (supplanter). There were things he did right, (read his story in Genesis) but, like most all of us, did many foolish things. But God, in His Powerful, Merciful Sovereignty turned Jacob into Israel ("prince") as He continued to faithfully fulfill His Covenant with Abraham. Reading the whole story of God's promises to Abraham, there is only one conclusion we can honestly draw. The outworking of our salvation (the promised seed of the woman through the offspring of Abraham to the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) is all God's doing and He gets all the glory. And what a privilege to be a fool God uses and blesses in the process. Jacob needed to know that God had plans for him, and through him, far greater than he could accomplish by himself. Do I know that too?
Genesis 32:27 to Jacob…
The Context; Jacob was on his way back to the place where he called home, and where he feared he would meet his estranged brother Esau. Camped for the night, Jacob went off by himself to a place where God, in the form of a man, wrestled with him to the point of dislocating Jacob's hip. Whether it was faith or proud tenacity we do not know (both things were common with Jacob), but Jacob refused to quit wrestling "unless you bless me." In response, God changed Jacob's name to "Israel" because Jacob had "striven with God and with men and have prevailed." That attitude, that behavior would prove to be both great heartache and great blessing for Jacob who would be the father of the God's people the Israelites.
God Asks Us: What is your name? no longer Jacob, but Israel..
jne Names are meaningful. Some people grow into their name, some grow out of it. Some people bring honor to their name, some people bring shame. David Roper wrote a book entitled "Fools God Uses." It is about Jacob, the son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham, the brother of Esau. None of those men were great by their own doing. They each give us examples of how not to live. Jacob, whom God renamed Israel and made him the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, spent much of his life serving himself, being true to his name Jacob (supplanter). There were things he did right, (read his story in Genesis) but, like most all of us, did many foolish things. But God, in His Powerful, Merciful Sovereignty turned Jacob into Israel ("prince") as He continued to faithfully fulfill His Covenant with Abraham. Reading the whole story of God's promises to Abraham, there is only one conclusion we can honestly draw. The outworking of our salvation (the promised seed of the woman through the offspring of Abraham to the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) is all God's doing and He gets all the glory. And what a privilege to be a fool God uses and blesses in the process. Jacob needed to know that God had plans for him, and through him, far greater than he could accomplish by himself. Do I know that too?