From: January 16, 2024
“There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel” (Genesis 33:20 ESV).
As he entered the Promised Land, Jacob built an altar to God near Shechem, just as his grandfather Abraham had once done (Gen. 12:7). However, Jacob no longer referred to the Lord as the God of Abraham and Isaac. Here for the first time, Jacob referred to the Lord as “El Elohe Israel” (“God, the Mighty God of Israel”).
After Jacob’s wrestling match with God, the Lord had given Jacob a new name, “Israel,” which means “one who wrestled and prevailed with God” (Gen. 32:28). Jacob was a new man with a new name. The Lord was now his God, the God of Israel.
Has the faith you have received from others yet become your faith? Is your faith, really your faith? Or does it depend on someone else? If that parent or grandparent or some other person were to stumble in their faith or pass away, would your faith remain? Is your faith, your faith?
When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we get a new name and become a new creation. Our faith is in Jesus. It is no longer secondary faith, but primary. And the strength of our faith is not the issue, so long as the object of our faith is the Lord.
PRAYER: Dear Father, You are our God. For You have loved us and given us Your Son as our Redeemer. You have saved us and given us a new name. We are Yours and You are ours. Our faith is our own. Our faith is in You alone. Strengthen us this day to follow Your Son in all things. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: January 16, 2023
“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won” (Genesis 32:28 NLT).
Jacob got a new name after wrestling all night with God. The name “Jacob” means “grasping the heel” or “pulling the leg.” It was given to him because he was born grasping his twin brother Esau’s heel at birth. Perhaps we get the cliche, “you’re pulling my leg,” from the story of Jacob tricking his brother out of his birthright and blessing.
But God changed his name to “Israel,” which means “one who prevailed with God.” God gave Jacob a new name and a new identity. He went from being the schemer to the spiritual founder of the twelve tribes of Israel. Along with his new name, God caused him to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Ironically, God pulled Jacob’s leg out of joint. From that day forward, Jacob began to learn to lean on God rather than his own human plans and effort.
PRAYER: Lord, thank you that you gave us a new name and a new identity when you saved us. We are no longer far from You but near. We are no longer strangers but sons. Help us to put off the old nature and to continually put on the new nature, which is ours in Christ Jesus. In Jesus name, Amen.
From: January 16, 2017
Simeon and Levi were Jacob’s second and third sons. They were born to his wife Leah. When it was reported that their sister Dinah had been sexually violated by Shechem the Hivite, the prince of that country, they were furious. Even though Shechem came to them with his father Hamor, offering to pay a dowry and make things right. They schemed for revenge and ultimately killed every man in the city, taking their wives, children and possessions as plunder. Jacob never forgot the violence of Simeon and Levi. In his last words to his sons from his death bed, he described these two brothers together as “instruments of cruelty” (Gen. 49:5-7), prophesying that they would be scattered in Israel. And so they were, the tribe of Simeon was enveloped by the land of Judah. And the tribe of Levi was given to God as priests and scattered throughout the cities of Israel. In a story like this it is difficult to find the moral or the meaning. It is even more difficult to see God in it. Yet, this was the people that God chose to make His own, the nation to which would be born the Messiah, the Son of God.
From: January 16, 2016
After a sleepless night wrestling with God, Jacob went to bed with one name and woke up with a another one. Instead of the name “Jacob,” a name that came from his grasping his twin brother Esau’s heel at birth, (Perhaps we get the phrase “you’re pulling my leg” from this), his name became “Israel” (“one who prevailed with God”). God gave Jacob a new identity. He went from being the schemer to the spiritual founder of the twelve tribes of Israel. Along with his new name, God caused him to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Ironically, God “pulled Jacob’s leg” until it popped out of joint. From that day forward, Jacob began to learn to lean on God rather than his own effort.
From: January 16, 2015
Jesus offered this invitation in the context of talking about access to the Father. He had just said that no one knows the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. This is similar to Jesus describing Himself as the only way to God as He did in John’s gospel (John 14:6). In this context, Jesus invites those who are heavy with laboring to find God, or to please God with their works, to come to Him instead and make Him their Master (“Take My yoke”), resting their souls in Him. The invitation to take His “yoke” (An implement for putting an ox into service pulling a plow) is an invitation to come under His Lordship, becoming His servant. This is Christ’s offer of a great exchange. Exchange your hard and impossible work to please God for His finished work on your behalf. Therein, you will find “rest” (sabbath) for your soul. Have you accepted this invitation?