Genesis 32:28, New International Version

“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.’”

Recently, one of the elders of the church brought a message about the life of Jacob. As he spoke through the events of Jacob’s life, I realized how his story speaks to the life of a Christian’s faith even in this century.

Jacob was a boy born and raised in a family that believed in and followed God. “Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.” (Genesis 25:21, NIV)

He himself had an opportunity to encounter God: “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” (Genesis 28:12–13, NIV)

He also went through twenty years of hardship and service under unfair treatment: “I have been with you for twenty years now… And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes… I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times… But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.” (Genesis 31:38–42, NIV)

Yet all of these things—being born and raised in a believing family, encountering God through dreams or visions, years of hardship, and a life of service—did not immediately bring transformation to him. He was still living with his old mindset, handling life in his own way. That changed when he wrestled with God in a personal way: “…Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:28, NIV)

Jacob bowed before the Lord, and the change did not come simply from life experience or from the wisdom of old age. As he said, “…I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32:30, NIV)

In our Christian walk, we may find ourselves struggling to surrender our lives to God. We may also see others—including our own family members—who are not yet walking in God’s ways. We question ourselves, carry burdens, doubt, and may even lose heart. But I want to encourage you: each of us has our own moment of wrestling with God—and God always wins. Take heart and do not be discouraged!