READ Genesis 32:22-32
“That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered. 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.”
Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.”
Jacob had always gotten by on his wits. From birth, he was grabbing heels and hustling blessings — deceiving Esau, manipulating Laban, and dodging accountability. But now, on the verge of returning home and facing his estranged brother, he finds himself alone. No more tricks. No more escape routes. Just silence, darkness, and a mysterious stranger.
The wrestling match that unfolds through the night is physical, emotional, and spiritual. It’s not just about winning — it’s about surrendering. Jacob holds on, even as he’s wounded, and insists: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” That tenacity marks the shift from striving in his own strength to seeking identity from God.
In response, the stranger — revealed to be God — gives Jacob a new name: Israel, meaning “one who struggles with God.” It’s a turning point. The limp he receives isn’t a punishment, but a reminder: strength is found in dependence, not control.
We all reach moments when our usual ways of coping fail. God meets us in those vulnerable places — not to destroy us, but to transform us. Our defining moments often come not through victory, but through surrender.
You may be wrestling with fear, uncertainty, guilt, or decisions that feel too heavy. Don’t run. Hold on. Let the wrestling match refine you. Let God name you.
Something to prayerfully think about: Am I clinging to old ways of striving — or am I ready to let God redefine who I am?
