About
In the dark of night, a man named Jacob was left alone with God. He came from a family of faith and dysfunction. He carried stories of a faithful God and memories of a father who’d overtly favored his twin brother. Jacob lived a life of deceit and despair, often mingled with an undertone of holy that might leave the audiences of Genesis a little perplexed. But here, on this night, all his scheming and all his toiling gave way to darkness. “Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak” (Genesis 32:24). The man was God Himself.
God came to Jacob in a form that could be wrestled! The Lord Almighty gave Himself to be gripped and strangled, scratched and pinned, elbowed and pinched by a mortal man. Clothed in muscles and skin of humanity, God punched and squeezed and strong-armed back. Could He not have overtaken Jacob? Could He not have turned the man to dust with a mere exhale? Of course He could have. But the point is He didn’t. God engaged Jacob, neither defeating nor being defeated, but hanging right there with him through the darkest hours of Jacob’s darkest night, until the faintest hint of dawn. In the hazy light of that next morning, Jacob stared into the face of God, and boldly proclaimed, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26).
Sometime in the night Jacob’s clawing had become clinging.
And the all-knowing God asked Jacob his name. “Jacob,” our wrestler replied. Was his voice hoarse with lack of sleep? Did his speech slur in exhaustion? Then God said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28). He had striven with God and prevailed? What on earth?
“Then Jacob asked Him and said, ‘Please tell me Your name.’ But He said, ‘Why is it that you ask My name?’ And He blessed him there” (Genesis 32:29). It was then that Jacob proclaimed, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved” (Genesis 32:30).
Jacob had a pretty sketchy past. He’d tricked his brother and his father. His business dealings with his father-in-law had been shady at best. He had children with four different women – one of whom was clearly his favorite, and the level of dysfunction in his family was alarming. God didn’t come near to him because of anything Jacob had done to earn His love or affection. God came near because God loved him.
I don’t know what brings you to this study. I don’t know if your striving with God looks more like wrestling or more like clinging. I don’t know – and perhaps you don’t either – if you’re fighting to get away or fighting to somehow make Him stay. I don’t know if you feel bold enough to demand a blessing or just desperate enough to hold on regardless. I don’t know if you’re looking into the face of God and asking His name or if you’re trembling in His presence, worried He might demand to know yours.
But this I do know: the God of the Bible is a God who wrestles right back. He is a Father who loves to be involved. He is a Creator willing to engage His creation. He is a Lord who robes Himself in human flesh and allows the dust of our land to stick to His sweat. He enters into our messes, even those of our own making. He comes near to us because He loves us, and He dares us to grab hold.
Perhaps my biggest fear in writing this study is that we’d somehow walk away with a fragmented understanding of who God is. I worry that by focusing on His many names, we might forget that He is One, that He is completely Himself no matter what name we address Him by. I worry that we might forget His majesty in the mundane of language that could never contain Him.
I pray that is not the case. I trust it won’t be.
God chose to reveal Himself to creatures as fragile and needy as you and me. He chose to call us by name, and He chose to tell us His. May we dare to peer into the pages of Scripture hungry for more than knowledge. May we walk away with more than a nametag understanding of God’s identity. May we come starved for His presence and desperate for an encounter with the One True God that will leave us ever-longing to know Him more.
Whether you have come to wrestle or cling, I pray you find yourself in the powerful grip of God. Together we will hold fast to a God who whispers our names, and we will beg Him to tell us His. We will come together to wrestle God alone.