A New Name

Today started out as a hot, sunny July day. This afternoon it has turned overcast and a little cooler. I had lunch today with Jim Szakmeister. Jim and I first met some 35 years ago and now he is retiring on Monday from the Fort Collins police department where he has served in a leadership position for a number of years. It was great to get caught up after a many years and to reconnect. I am looking forward to seeing him more often as he transitions into retirement and helps lead the “Allies” men’s ministry at Timberline Church.

We will have a more low key July 4th. At least I will! Debbie is on call and those days are always interesting as to what the demands will be.

BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY….  “…Your name will no longer be Jacob [surplanter], but Israel [Prince with God] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”   Genesis 32:28

In my Old Testament reading I have been in Genesis and reading about the Jacob. This is certainly one of the more interesting stories of the Bible because this is “the” man from whom the name will come that we still see in the world news on a daily basis, “Israel.”

He was given a name at birth due to the unique birth process with his twin brother. “When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red; so they named him Esau.After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob”  (Genesis 25:24-26)  (I’ve heard of little kids called, “ankle bitters” but not “heel graspers.” )

It seemed like Jacob was trying to pull his brother back into womb to be the one who would come out on top. And that is how Jacob lived his life. He bargained for his brother’s birthright. His mother was a co-conspirator in Jacob’s robbing the blessing of the firstborn from Isaac. All of this created one of the more famous sibling rivalries ending in Esau promising himself that he would kill his brother when dad was dead.

Jacob finds refuge in the the household of his uncle Laban. It is there that he establishes his family and builds his wealth. (which is a story in itself!) As Jacob prepares to return to the land of his father he finds that his brother Esau is coming to meet him. He immediately begins to panic and to plot a strategy to appease his brother and save his life and his family from any left over resentment.

In his desperation he cries out to God….“O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”  (Genesis 32:9-12)

As Jacob continues to plan his strategies he finds himself alone in a wrestling match with “God.” At the end of the night as Jacob asked for a blessing, he was given the name “Israel” (Prince with God). It is one thing to be given a name based on natural circumstances surrounding your birth, it is another to be given a name by God based on your spiritual destiny. For God’s plan to be fulfilled, God needed someone who would “hold on to Him and not let go.” As a result we see another name added to the prayers of the children of Israel as they address God: “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I like that statement of pastor/author Mark Batterson, “Destiny is not a mystery. Destiny is a decision.” (Batterson, M. 2013 “All In” pg. 31 Zondervan Publishing) I’m glad that Jacob made a decision to call out to the God of his forefathers and God became His God. I’m glad that Jacob realized that human strategies and manipulations only go so far, but only God can secure a promise and fulfill a destiny.

Jacob was far from perfect, but he learned to call on and trust God for His future. When we make the same decision we will find our destiny in God.