My reputation is too scarred Has your past caused you problems? We live in a world where it seems everyone is out for their own self and in this age people are always looking for an excuse to bring someone else down. But, God loves an underdog. Throughout the Old and New Testaments we see the power of God transforming the lives of an underdog and marrying them with the top dog (God) and changing their lives for the better. Jacob was born into a spiritual family that was chosen by God to help transform the world for the better. Yet Jacob from the earliest age was always looking for an advantage to make everything easier in his life. The name Jacob means ‘under cutter’, ‘usurper’, and ‘deceiver’, and he lived up to his name until he had a life changing experience. As a young man, twice Jacob deceived his brother and father to attain his brother Esau’s blessing. Twice he could’ve changed the meaning of his name by not being what others thought of him, but what God wanted him to be, yet he could not help himself, which led to lying, cheating, and scamming to get what he wanted, when he wanted it. The grandson of Abraham failed his family name, and thus God at every point in his life. Yet God did not give up on him. Even as he ran from his past, hide from his brother, and staked out a new life for himself, God always watched over him, protecting him, and guiding him. In Genius Chapter 32, we see Jacob on the run from his brother. His brother Esau has found him and is coming to see him with four hundred men. Jacob assumes that Esau is coming back for revenge, to kill him for stealing his birthright. He is afraid and seems to can’t leave his past behind. He begins to scheme again by dividing his family into two groups and sending four different sets of gifts to Esau, while crying out to God for help. Jacobs past had caught up with him. He tried to outwit the problem, and then divide and conquer, hoping that he would be left alive, or at the least left alone. Yet he did not realize that Esau was not coming to settle the argument from decades before, but to meet, greet, and say that he loved his brother. That forgiveness had come over him. With the forgiveness of his brother, God wanted Jacob to be changed forever. In a heated fight with God, Jacob would not let God go until he was blessed, protected, and reassured that his past would stay in the past. We read in Genius 32:27-29 about this encounter; But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. Jacob was renamed Israel which means; ‘triumphant over God’ or ‘who prevails with God’. Israel (Jacob) had imagined that his brother wanted to kill him. Yet God wanted him to be a new creation. Through a seeking heart, sin can be forgiven and the past laid in the past. While others may try to remind you of your past wrongs, know God has forgiven, and restored you into a new person. Your job like Israel’s (Jacob) is living a holy life that honors God in everything you do. -Pastor Desmond
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 15:20:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015