Wrestling into New Life

Read Genesis 32-34
 
Genesis 32:27-28 “What is your name?”, the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
 
IN John 3:4-7 the apostle records Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisee Nicodemus – perhaps one of history’s most powerful interchanges. To Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”
    From that conversation, “born again” has become a phrase for the life-transforming power of God’s salvation. All who confess their sins before God and believe in their hearts, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior.” have overcome sin’s deadly condemnation to live eternally with the Holy God.
    Genesis 32:27-28 is a physical prophecy of our spiritual transformation. Jacob’s new birth comes after about 60 years of contentious living within his own family and then with Laban. Jacob is returning to his homeland. Incredibly, God comes to him and engages Jacob in a physical wrestling match! How can this be?  
    God occasionally appears in human form in Genesis. He does so to empower people to the next step on their faith journey. This physical wrestling, then, is an example of God’s intimate, life-changing power over Jacob and our human sin. We see here a physical display of Jacob’s life-long spiritual struggles. Does God destroy this disobedient man? No! God is rich in mercy and forgiveness. He renames him as a sign he is born-again into a new relationship that overcomes his sin.
    Remember in Genesis 27, Isaac asked Jacob, “Who is it?” and Jacob answered, “I am Esau your firstborn.” Answering the Lord’s question, “What is your name?” with “Jacob”, is Jacob’s confession, “I am a deceiver. I have sinned.” At last from Jacob’s mouth comes the confession that reveals his heart is born again.
    Jacob’s new name Israel and his weakened hip would continually remind him of this encounter to know his strength is in God. As “Israel” would name a nation, the name would be to remind the faithful of God’s mercy to forgive and renew. Today, we have seen Jesus Christ overcome the cross and death. In faith, when we confess, “I’m a Christian.” we must know who we are, birthed anew in God’s intimate life power to forgive and renew.
    We do wrestle with God, don’t we? In many ways, our will struggles with his will. At some point, though, God has to “touch our hip”, to weaken us, so we will remember who we are, submit to the Father and be strengthened.
 
Consider: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.”