When did you come to the realization that God is God and you are not? When did you accept his plan for your life as better than your own? How did you mark that occasion?

It took an all-night wrestling match for Jacob to accept who he was and God’s better plan and new name. What he had prayed for in Genesis 28 was now a reality. His longest prayer (32:9-12), a prayer of desperation, followed the same pattern of his previous thoughts and prayers. He always talked about God as his grandfather’s God and his father’s God. 

After reminding God of what he had said way back when and how he had kept his end of the bargain, he asked God to keep his end. In verse 10, Jacob tells God when he left on his journey running away from his big brother, all he had was a walking stick. Now he was extraordinarily blessed by God with all kinds of wealth.

God answered his prayer. He even showed up in person to deliver the message. He wrestled with Jacob all night long (32:22-32). Jacob held his own. He held his own right up to the point when God decided to let him know how he could have dispatched him at any moment. 

Then God gave Jacob a hip injury that would prevent him from running away from his problems. No running from Esau. No running from Laban. No running from the mess his sons made (34:24-30). No running from his responsibilities. He would require a walking stick for the rest of his life. 

Jacob received a new name, Israel, a new pace of life, and a new purpose. He also had a new relationship with God. For the first time, he accepted God as his own God. Read verse 20 again:

And there he built an altar and named it El-Elohe-Israel.

El-Elohe-Israel means God, the God of Israel.

Jacob acknowledged that God had answered his prayer. He received his new name. He agreed that God was God and he was not. He set up an altar as a testimony and reminder of these truths. 

Again, when did you come to the realization that God is God and you are not? When did you accept his plan for your life as better than your own? How did you mark that occasion?

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I will live in full acknowledgment and agreement with who God says I am and what his purpose is for me. 

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Our Father, you are God, and I am not. I want to live the life you have planned for me. I want to move at your pace. Your dreams for me are better than any I could dream for myself. Amen.