Sometimes the problem we think we face isn’t our real problem at all.
Jacob spent years believing that Esau was the obstacle he had to overcome. As he prepared to meet his brother again, he planned carefully, anticipated every possible outcome, and tried to stay one step ahead of disaster. He panicked when he heard Esau was coming with 400 men, but he planned. Then, on the night before that long-awaited meeting, everything changed.
Left alone beside the Jabbok River, Jacob found himself in a mysterious struggle that lasted until dawn. Scripture leaves many questions unanswered about exactly who wrestled with him, and perhaps that’s intentional. The story invites us to pay less attention to identifying the stranger and more attention to what happened to Jacob.
During the struggle, the stranger asks Jacob a deceptively simple question: “What’s your name?” Years earlier he had answered that question with a lie in order to steal a blessing. This time he tells the truth. Only then does he receive a new name. Both his old name and his new name carried meaning.
One of the central ideas we explored together is this:
God knows us by who we are becoming, not just by who we’ve been.
Jacob leaves the river limping. His circumstances haven’t suddenly become easier. Esau still waits on the other side of the river. But Jacob himself has changed. The encounter with God doesn’t remove the road ahead; it changes the person who walks it.
Most of us know what it’s like to try to control every outcome. Others may have called us control freaks, and we may even have claimed that name. We rehearse conversations, make plans, imagine every possible scenario, and convince ourselves that if we can just manage things well enough, we’ll be OK. We may ask God to change the situation around us, but instead, he changes us.
Maybe there is a “person across the river” in your own life. You might have an old label you’ve carried for years, or a fear you’ve tried to manage on your own. The good news of Jacob’s story for us is that God’s grace refuses to let our past have the final word. God loves us too much to leave us unchanged.
I hope you’ll take a few moments to listen to this week’s message or read the transcript. I pray that Jacob’s journey will encourage you to trust the God who continues to shape us, even through life’s struggles.
We’d love to see you in person at Lincoln Park-Lynnwood United Methodist Church, 3120 Pershing Street, Knoxville, TN. Come as you are. We’re not in the judging business. We’re in the welcoming business.
