When life doesn’t go your way, do you try to force things, or do you turn to God? While Jacob is recognized as a giant of the faith, he is yet another person who started off on the wrong path. He went so far as to convince his brother Esau to hand over his birth right and inheritance, and tricked his father into blessing him (Jacob) and giving him that birthright (Genesis Chapter 27).
Jacob was forgetting that when you give your life over to God, life becomes richer. He had to learn this before he could be enriched with strength. “This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket” (Genesis 32:24-25). There’s a lot to unpack here. Jacob was actually wrestling with God, who was teaching him to be strong and to persevere. It’s not that God couldn’t defeat Jacob but that He was teaching him a lesson.
It was this encounter that led Jacob to finally give his life over to God, put trust in Him, and follow Him. You need to give God control, because when God is in control, incredible things happen! His encounter with God not only taught him strength—it gave him strength. But even people with strength can become exhausted, and it’s important to remember Matthew 11:28-29: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
True identity is also gained by giving your life to God. You have a new identity through Him. Jacob was renamed Israel and had twelves sons who formed the twelve tribes of Israel. It took Jacob 20 years to give his life to God, but he gained a new identity, and with that, a new joy! Don’t waste precious years of your life, or any amount of time, pushing back against God.