striving with God... and yielding

And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.

Genesis 35:10

Jacob’s story is one of constant tension and conflict. Tension marked his family,,, conflict with his father and his brother. Jacob went to his uncle Laban to avoid the worst in that tension, only to get into conflict with the man who took him in and gave him his only job. He had tension in his own household with a small army of children born from four different mothers. And his life was marked by spiritual conflicts due to an “in and out” relationship with God. Even just before this official “naming” ceremony, Jacob had to purge his household of idols so he could build a proper altar to God. Despite all these sins and failures, God kept His promise to Jacob and gave him a new name based on that rocky history of conflict: “Israel” - striver with God.

God saw Jacob for exactly what he was. God kept covenant with him despite all these awful struggles. The Lord was the reason for all the success that came to Jacob and his home. Jacob knew this and believed it. He built altars and he renamed places in recognition that God was indeed the “winner” in all these difficulties. It took Jacob much of his life to get there, but he finally became a patriarch of faith and a God-follower. He strove with God and God won... literally (once physically: Genesis 32:26-30)... twice (and another time spiritually: Genesis 35:11-12).

Jacob only yielded to God after much striving, And when he saw God as his strength and sustainer, he changed to truly begin worshiping the mighty Lord. It took getting a new name and a gimpy hip for that obedience to finally happen. But there is one greater than Jacob Who quickly prayed “not my will, but Yours be done” in the tension and spiritual wrestling that existed in Gethsemane before Calvary. Jesus was born from the tribe of Judah, the family of Jacob, an Israelite. He was the last king to come from Jacob’s body as the One promised of God. And in His yielding to die for us, all sin and all conflict, all striving and tension shall cease in the grace of His forgiveness!