PENIEL AND JACOB’S NEW NAME

 

         When I think of “wrestling,” I think of Yukon Eric, Gorgeous George, and Saturday nights at my grandmother’s house, or two of my cousins who were noted wrestlers for U.N.I., or a boy named Sue, who wrestled with his dad in the “ mud and the blood and the beer.” And I think of my own wrestling matches with my past, my sins, my addictions, with the essence of who I am, and with my God! If I could go back in time, I would change many things and even now, I would change some things. I wrestled with alcohol, everyone knows that, but I also wrestled with the truth, and acceptance, and surrender. Once God got my attention, right away He started leaning on me to trust and let go, to give up my efforts to direct everyone else in my world and let the Holy Spirit have His way with me.

      And through the years I’ve know many people who have struggled with relationships, sins, addictions, health, dying, surrender, real discipleship, authenticity, and God’s call in their lives. Maybe this is why I embrace Peniel and Jacob’s struggle for a new name. Jacob was the youngest of Isaac's and Rebekah’s twins, and it seems that he was his mother's favorite. He wasn’t the hunter his brother, Esau was, but he knew how to get what he wanted. So he and his mother plotted to cheat Esau out of his birthright and his father’s blessing, and they succeeded. But Esau swore to kill Jacob and Jacob ran to his uncle Laban’s house for protection.

      By all accounts, Jacob was a good shepherd and between his insightful work and an ongoing scenario in which he and Laban tried to out-maneuver each other, Jacob acquired immense wealth. He also acquired Laban’s two daughters as wives- one who he was tricked into marrying and one who he loved to his dying day. Jacob had children by both women (and their handmaids), but in time, he decided to go home. He had to go back home and face what he had done to his brother. So, when Laban was preoccupied, Jacob took everything he considered his and headed back home.

      He was getting close to home when he received word that his brother was approaching him with 400 men. His hour of reckoning was at hand. So Jacob divided his wives and other property into two groups and sent them off by different routes. Then... he laid down to ponder things and sleep by the wadi Jabbok. It was pitch dark and he was completely alone, as alone as he had been since he said goodbye to his mother years before. He had acquired wealth. He had two wives and several sons. He had a birthright and a blessing... but he didn't have peace! Not peace of mind, not peace with his brother, not peace with his God, not peace with himself. He knew how to scheme, but of shalom he knew nothing at all. He didn't know who he was and who he ought to become. So he laid in the darkness and took stock of it all... when suddenly, he was blind-sided by an intruder... and the wrestling match was on!

      It must have been quite a sight- two men rolling around on the desert floor, grabbing, punching, kicking, in an effort to win the match. And it went on... until daybreak. Finally, Jacob's assailant struck him in the hip and threw it out of place. The outcome of the match was no longer in doubt. Jacob would not win... but he would NOT let go. Exalted and beaten, he refused to let go. "I will not let go until you give me a blessing," he cried. I insist on a blessing! You are able to bless me and I will cling to you until you do. That's what he said, and he was given a blessing!

      A new name! A new identity. From now on, the intruder noted, you will be known as Israel... because you have striven with God and humans. You have done business with the living God, and within that struggle... you have found your own identity. Come morning, Jacob knew that he had struggled with God... and lived. So, he named the place "Peniel,"... and he limped across the wadi with a new name, moving toward a new relationship with his brother and a deeper understanding of himself and his God!  

      Peniel means “face of God.” Do we ever know ourselves until we've wrestled with the Living God? Can we ever get a new name unless we receive it in this struggle? How far can we run? How long can we hide? How long will we settle with just getting by, when God offers a life of purpose, authenticity... and a new name? Coming to grips with our deepest self will require a struggle with the Giver of New Names. We'll never find shalom by running, hiding and living by our wits.  Let those who have ears, hear!