Genesis 31-33: Luke 13

In Genesis 32, Jacob is waiting for the brother he had betrayed and stolen his blessing to come. It has been reported Esau is coming with 400 men. Jacob has no way of defending himself against such an army and yet he is still doing what he does best, connive and figure out a plan. He would put his servants first and then the part of his family he loves lastly followed by Rachel and him. He really thinks he could escape if Esau attacks the servants first? Not likely, but when you have built your life conniving and using trickery, eventually really dumb ideas look like they might work. Jacob had some successes in his life but what he did not know was that God had been secretly behind the scenes blessing his failures. Now it was time for Jacob to come to an end of himself. He finds himself in a headlock with an angel. And after a night of wrestling, he still won’t give up, but does go back to the one positive side of his stubbornness and that was he would not give up on receiving a blessing from God. The course of his life would change and he would be left with a limp that would remind him for the rest of his life that his plans must surrender to trusting in God. His name and identity would be changed; he would no longer be called ‘Jacob’ which means ‘conniving’, to ‘Israel’ which means ‘prince with God’. When we really learn to trust God, we too will find that our identity has changed, for you are a prince with God.

Pastor Rick


Nest Reading: Genesis 34-35; Luke 14