# 307 A New Name!

The Book of Genesis

Day 307

Ge 32:24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.  25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.  26 And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"  27 So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob."  28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."

It is God’s good pleasure to be vanquished by the stranglehold of faith. (Luke 12:32)

In your darkest hours, when you are ready to give up on God, remember these words, and hang on!

In Jacob’s case, I really like the phrase, “until the breaking of day.”  It speaks of light eventually breaking forth and shining into his situation, it will break forth in yours as well.  I speak from personal experience, for there are times when I have wrestled with the Holy Spirit and all I have been able to do, (like Jacob) is hang on! I would not let go, because the alternative to faith is no faith, and I don’t ever want to go back to that kind of living again!

These wrestlings are the darkest of times, yet, if we hang on, light will come. Often, at the end of such wrestlings, I am forced to confront my sin. We see the same thing here as the angel of the Lord asks Jacob, “What’s your name?”

Now, c’mon, you and I know that this angel already knows Jacob’s name, he just wants Jacob to speak it and confess it! He says, “My name is Jacob.” In other words, ”My name is deceiver….I am a deceiver.” Do you see the confession here in restating his name?  In our wrestlings with God, we too are often challenged with the same question. “Who am I?” and the answer is, “I am a sinner!”

Upon hearing Jacob’s confession, the angel bestows a new name on him, henceforth he is to be called “Israel,” which literally means, “Prince with God.” The King James says, “For as a prince hast thou power with God and men.”

Look, as we confess our sinfulness, and by God’s grace, prevail in our wrestlings, God bestows a new name on us as well, it is “Christian……follower of Christ,” and  as His follower, we too have power with God and men, for we have a friend in a high place, helping our faith along, namely Jesus Christ, who constantly intercedes on our behalf. 

And let me let you in on a little secret regarding wrestling with God.  The wrestlings will be intense, but when all is said and done, and you look back on them, you will note that it wasn’t you so much hanging on to God as it was Him hanging on to you!