‘Jacob’ means deceiver.
Jacob has deceived his brother, Esau. He had fled to his maternal Uncle, Laban.
He married his two daughters, made wealth for himself again deceiving his
Uncle. Now he plans to return. As he returns, he is about to meet his brother,
Esau whom he had earlier deceived by taking his birthright. He is afraid that
Esau might do him harm. So he does what he feels is right at that moment, he
sends lot of gifts ahead loaded on camel backs with his servants to his
brother. He also sends his close family away to a safe place, so no harm should
come to them if he is attacked. Now he alone near the ford of Jabbok alone,
when he encounters a Man, whom he wrestles or strives (Hebrew- word) with whole
night. At the break of the dawn the Man cannot overcome Jacob, so he dislocates
his hip bone. Jacob is adamant that the Man should bless him and the Man does
so and he disappears.
Now these Biblical turn
of events in Genesis 32, have puzzled many, especially the wrestling with God.
In this write-up, I am going to explain to unearth the hidden meaning behind
this passage and how we can apply the same to our lives to be successful! In
other words, I am going to encourage you to strive against and succeed or
wrestle with God, till he blesses you!
1.
Your
self-image has a power over you: How would you feel if
everyday people around you call you a deceiver? You wouldn’t welcome it, would
you? Jacob means ‘deceiver’ Jacob has been called a deceiver his whole life.
Now words have power to create images in our minds. If I say the word,
‘ice-cream’ what comes your mind? Even, when I say don’t think of a monkey with
a red face. You just imagined a monkey with red face, didn’t you? So when Jacob
is called a deceiver his whole life, he goes on to behave in the same manner.
He deceives his brother by stealing his birthright. He deceives his uncle but
before that his uncle Laban had deceived him. So Jacob deceives or is being
deceived and he is living in a world of deception! But aren’t we too deceived
our whole lives by the culture, tradition, religious beliefs, people’s opinions
etc. Somebody says to you, your family was never good at math, so it is
impossible for you to make a career in the same field. Somebody says, you are
just an average or below average guy or girl and you won’t make it big in life.
So we hold on to such opinions and have the image of failures and start acting
in the same manner. An eagle’s egg was accidently mixed up with the eggs of a
hen. The eaglet was hatched and came out to be surrounded by chicks around it.
Now it believed that it is a chick and would grow up to be a hen too. So it
replicated the actions of the chickens around it. It hopped, pecked grains and
ran around. It was oblivion to the fact that it was born to fly. One day, an
eagle saw this eaglet and told it the truth, ‘you are not meant to hop around
but fly, give up the deception’. The eagle carried it on its back and let it go
and the eaglet first time soared freely in the sky and was free! So the problem
that Jacob faces is the same that you and I face. We are all Jacobs in the
sense that we go on deceiving not necessarily others, but ourselves our whole
lives.
2.
Holding
on the right image will free you: Now Jacob after all
the turn of events is alone near the ford of Jabbok, here he encounters God
with whom he strives against and overcomes and he is blessed, his name is now
changed to ‘Israel’! I want you note down some significant points here. First,
Jacob is alone near the ford of Jabbok. He has let go everything, his family,
his belonging, the gifts he was to present to his brother, Esau. In his
solitude, he finds an encounter with God. I want you to notice this strange
incident carefully; Jacob is near the ford of Jabbok. The Hebrew meaning of
Jabbok is ‘to empty itself’. The point I am making is, when you have an
uncluttered mind, free from all baggage that you carry around, you will
encounter God! We see this happen even in the case of Elijah, he is running
away from the queen Jezebel, he is afraid, he flees! After a turn of events,
Elijah reaches mount Horeb. Here he encounters an earthquake, storm and fire
and the Bible says, God was not in the earthquake, storm or fire! When
everything is quiet, he hears the voice of God.
Isaiah 30: 5 says, ‘In quietness and confidence shall be your strength!”
Friends, to find God within yourself, you have to quieten your mind. Bring it
to not, for your mind will always be hooked to the past or think ‘what will
be?’ Meditate, quietly where no one disturbs you and you will find God. Jacob
finds God when he has emptied himself, he is in solitude.
Second,
note what Jacob does. He wrestles with God. Jacob the deceiver has found God
and now he wrestles or strives against God whole night. What does this mean? When
Jacob encounters God, he encounters his true self and finds the right image! No
longer is he Jacob, the deceiver, but now he finds that he is free from this
false image. He is an over- comer. In the end, Jacob asks the Man to bless him
and what happens; his name is changed to Israel! The Hebrew meaning of Israel
is Yi- He, Stra- strive against and El- God. When you strive against all odds
to hold on to the image of God within you which is of freedom, joy, abundance
and completeness you are blessed. The Bible tells that wrestling with God goes
on till the dawn breaks. Friends, hold on to the true image that God gives you
till the dawn of blessing breaks forth in your life. Don’t let it go, that is
what Jacob does. He holds on, he wrestles and doesn’t let the Man go. Wrestling
is done with holding each other tightly. We have to hold on tightly to the real
image of ourselves. Till now people may have called you a fool but God says you
are wise, you may have an image of defeat but God says you can overcome, you
feel you are poor but God says you are abundant. Jacob holds on to God – the
true image of himself so long that God has to distract him by dislocating his
hip bone! Now his focused mind is again disturbed but he holds on till he is
blessed and his name is changed to Israel. “Success
is a matter of holding on after others have let go.” Hold on till you are
prosperous, hold on till you are healed, hold on till your relations are
restored, hold on till you are promoted, hold on till you are free! That is
what Jacob does that night and becomes Israel, his name stands today as a
witness of blessing of God that has continued generations from generations.
Friends,
the Bible many times hides precious pearls of wisdom which need to be
unearthed, so that we see the message, act on it and be blessed. Today it tells
us from the story of Jacob that image has power over us so we need to know what
kind of image we hold of ourselves. We also need to empty ourselves of all the
labels that our surroundings have given us and hold on to the image God has in
store for us, we need to hold on to it till we are blessed. May we experience
blessings of God taking over our lives, may we hold on to the right image.
Joy
be all yours.
Sohan.
