who do you say?

So I was studying my Bible yesterday and was reading about Jacob’s wrestling experience with God. Not sure how I even ended up there since that is not what I started out studying but, I guess God leads you where He wants you to go.

Genesis 32:24-32ESV
‘And Jacob was left alone. And a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day … Then He said, “Let Me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me." And He said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven [wrestled] with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked Him, "Please tell me Your name." But He said, "Why is it that you ask My name?" And there He blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered [spared]."'

Ever been in a situation like Jacob’s?

I have!

In fact, I am in the middle of one now. I’ve been applying for jobs for years now [yes, I said years!] and to no avail - tough for any family, but try being a single-mom while enduring this type of wilderness experience. It has felt like the longest night ever and I feel like Jacob – tired from wrestling with situations and circumstances, tired of wrestling with man, at times even wrestling with the One who has immeasurable strength - yet determined not to give up.

Now Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.” But I am here to tell you that I have reached the point where I am determined to never let go - even if the blessing does not manifest in the way [or timeframe] that I think it should – as long as He gives me grace to hold on.

So the Angel of God tells Jacob that dawn is breaking …
The night is ending and so, too, the wrestling match must end.
That alone ought to encourage someone … it did me!

Then the Angel of God wrenches Jacob’s hip, forever altering his walk. He also changes his name and does indeed bless him.

Here’s the part that got my attention:
Jacob asked Him, ‘Please tell me Your name’ but He would not. He only responded, ‘Why is it that you ask My name?’

I found it a little peculiar that He would not respond. I mean, You spend all night in close proximity with someone, You get their sweat and tears all over You, and You have touched them in intimate places. Yet You will not give Your name when asked.

Why would God do this?

I believe there are two reasons:
1. It should have been evident who He was
2. There is no teaching so great as the revelation of discovering the answer one’s self

Please do not misunderstand my point. There is a value in getting information from others, especially those more learned than oneself. However, there is an even greater value, I believe, in getting that understanding from God revealing it personally – through His Word, His actions and our experience with Him.

Jesus asked the disciples in Matthew 16, ‘Who do men say that I am?’ but then He followed that inquiry with a more important question, ‘Who do YOU say that I am?’

It is a fair and straight forward question based upon their walks beside Him, their knowledge of Him and intimate experiences with Him. They had to truly consider what each of them, individually, knew to be true. Yet only one response is recorded from Peter, “Thou art the Christ!”

Understand that we, like Jacob and Peter, will at times be required to come up with our own name for God. Yet before He asks, He knows that He has already revealed enough of Himself for us to know the answer.

Based upon your dark, wrestling and pain-ridden night [if you are experiencing one], who has God become to you? What has the experience taught you about life, about your specific location, about yourself and about your God?

Jacob had to come to the end of himself and admit, I’m a trickster. But I believe the reason he held on so tight was that he was saying, ‘I’m tired of being this way … experiencing the same things over and over. Not to mention, I am like the walking dead anyway if You do not do something new and fresh in my life.’ God responded with a new name and a blessing. And, in that moment, he saw God face-to-face, forever defining that experience and what He would call God for that season of his life. It forever changed his walk and became a foundational block for future situations and circumstances.

Notice that he did not name the experience, ‘The Pain of God’ or even ‘The Blessing of God’.

No! He named it ‘The Face of God’.

Understand that once you get a fresh revelation of who He is, you forget the pain and even the blessing you were looking for because He has given you something of even greater value.

He has given you a glimpse of Himself…

For me, the prevailing name for God during this season of my life has been ‘Faithful’.

Who do you say that He is?