I was reading a well known Bible story in the Old Testament this morning and some of the details hit me afresh, even though I thought I knew the story well. Jacob had deceived both his father and brother and had run away from home to save his life. His brother in particular, was very angry with him and swore to kill him if he ever got his hands on him!
Jacob went to his father’s relatives many hundreds of miles away, and fell in love with one of his cousins who was a very pretty girl. But Jacob found that the deceitful genes were just as much alive in his relatives there, and that his uncle tricked him more than once over the years. He had given him the wrong girl for a start, and then changed his wages seven times over. Jacob ended up with both his girl cousins for wives (acceptable in that culture then), and at the time this incident happened, he had eleven sons.
His flocks and herds had increased to such an extent that his men cousins were starting to mutter about this fact. At the same time, God spoke to Jacob in a dream, telling him to return to his father’s house. It was time for him to put things right with his brother. Jacob prepared to do this, and gathered all his belongings and flocks and herds together and left without telling his uncle he was leaving, sneaking away one night while he was busy elsewhere.
When his uncle heard of this, he started off in pursuit of Jacob’s party, but God intervened one night in a dream and told him he was not to touch Jacob or to accuse him of anything. When he caught up with Jacob, he asked him why had had done this , leaving in such a hurry that he couldn’t say goodbye to his daughters and grandchildren. ” I thought you wouldn’t let them go,” Jacob replied, “Besides I’ve worked for you for twenty years and you changed my wages many times! I’ve looked after your animals and made good any that were taken by wild animals.”
Jacob’s uncle knew this was true, and he was somewhat pacified. “Well, let’s make an agreement that we will leave each other alone after this,” he said. So they put together a heap of stones and made an agreement with each other, eating a feast at the spot which sealed the pact.
The time had come for Jacob to meet his brother Esau. It was an easy meeting, and they made up between them. Then this was the part of the story that made an impression on me. After Esau left and Jacob had sent his wives and children off ahead of him, God appeared to him as a stranger passing by and began to wrestle with him. Jacob was a tough outdoors person by this time, and neither of the contestants was beating the other, until suddenly the stranger touched Jacob’s thigh. Jacob began to limp with the pain and let him go suddenly.
The Stranger said, “What is your name?” “My name is Jacob,” he said. Suddenly it hit him what his name Jacob meant. Supplanter, Deciever, everything that he had been in all his sinfulness up until this point. As he realised this and saw himself as he was, the Stranger said, “Your name from now on will be Israel, a Prince with God!” What a change happened within Jacob’s being as this was said. “What is Your Name, then?” he asked. “Why do you ask?” the Stranger said, and gave him God’s blessing on the spot. Again, the realisation hit Jacob, and he cried out, “This place shall be called Peniel, because I have seen God face to face, and I’m still alive!”
Jacob was never the same again, either in his spirit or in his body as he limped for the rest of his life, a perpetual reminder of his encounter with the God of his father and grandfather.
This story reminded me of the same principles that govern our lives today. We must each one have a personal encounter with God; we must realise the sin we are in, and how crooked and deceitful we are naturally. We must confess our sin before God can forgive us and make us anew. We CAN become new creatures in Christ, and this is the only way we can rise above our sinful natures that abuse each other and cause untold misery in our lives today.
The blessings that God gives each one who does this are unspeakable, and we are given a new name as well as a new nature. It is only as God touches our lives, even if this causes pain in some way, that this can happen. Let’s pray and look to God for this to happen.
(You can read this story about Jacob in Genesis 29-32)
