Week 2 Day 4- From Jacob to Israel

Jacob is finally free from Laban.  He had worked for him for 20 years.  Laban's sons were envious of Jacob and accused him of taking away all that was their father's.  Laban became displeased with Jacob, so he took all that was his and fled.  God had blessed Jacob.

As they are traveling, they hear that Esau is approaching and Jacob is afraid.  He sends a messenger ahead to tell him that he had many servants and flocks, and he asked to find favor in his sight.  The messenger returns saying that Esau is coming with 400 men.  Jacob is "greatly afraid" (Gen 32:7).  

"As Jacob had no streength before Esau because of guilt, so many Christians are also hindered by their past.  After reacting in fear and unbelief, Jacob did the right thing.  He went to the Lord and prayed a good prayer, humble, full of faith, thanksgiving, and God's word." (David Guzik)

This is where God meets Jacob and wrestles all night as mentioned in day 3.  Jacob's change began when he humbled himself and prayed. (Gen 32:9-12)  He came away a different person.  The "old man" died that night.  God changed his name from Jacob to Israel.

How many of us are bound by our past?  Are we weak like Jacob because of guilt?

We all need to come to the place where we wrestle our past and God helps us conquer it.

What are we holding on to that is hindering us from conquering our giants?  Saul placed a heavy armor on David- which appeared to men to be the appropirate thing to do.  David took off the armor and took a handful of stones and defeated the giant in the name of the Lord.  Sometimes we are holding on to things that we need to let go of- and grab onto God to conquer our giants.  Another example is Gideon who faced an army with 135,000 men with only 32,000 of his men.  God chiseled away at his army until only 300 were left- and these few men defeated the large army with the help of the Lord.

What does God need to chisel away from us?

Jacob was ready to face Esau.  When they met, the two brothers hugged and wept.  God had blessed them.  The past was behind them- they didn't dig it up.  God had worked on both of them.  

God told Jacob to go to Bethel.  They journeyed from there, and on the way Rachel was in hard labor. She died giving birth.  She named her son, Ben-Oni, meaning 'son of my sorrow'.  Jacob changed the child's name to Benjamin.  Ultimately, at the time of her victory when she was giving birth to another son for her husband, all she felt was sorrow.  

Where was her heart all of her life?  Where was her focus?  

I think we should ask the same of ourself- where is our heart?  We know that Rachel's life was one of competition with her sister.  Rachel had the love of Jacob, but it was not enough.  Leah gave him children, but it wasn't enough to win his love.  Maybe if Rachel had trusted God and not held onto the foreign gods of her father (Gen 31:19), then her life would've been different.  

How many of us are holding onto 'gods'- things that are standing between us and God.  

Maybe it's our job- our money- our pride- our friends who arent where they should be with God and pull us away- ...  the list could go on and on.

We must turn our eyes on Jesus and seek Him with all that is within us--fall on our face before Him and dive into His word.  We have to guard our heart hide God's word safely inside.  

As Angie Smith says, we need to "pray like a crazy woman".