God's Masterpiece Through Our Struggle: Genesis 35:9-15

God is more than willing to give us space to wrestle with Him.  He’s a big God; He can take it.  His truth is significant enough to take our criticism.  His ways are great enough to encompass our deviation from the plan.  He welcomes us, flaws and all.

At Bethel, God comes once more to Jacob and renews the promise made to Abraham and Isaac.  We see confirmation about why He protected Jacob’s family as they moved from Shechem to Bethel.  God protected them because He planned to take Jacob and make him into a nation that would produce kings.  God’s plan is in motion.

God also changes Jacob’s name to Israel.  The name Jacob literally means supplanter.  He earned the name from his birth as he grasped Esau’s heel.  As a supplanter, Jacob wrestled with practically every person with whom he came in contact.  Jacob’s formative years were spent wrestling with the world to create an identity for himself.

Once Jacob’s family was intact, his wealth was intact, and his reputation was intact, Jacob returned to Canaan.  He came back a different man.  He was stronger, more confident, and far more ready to take on the responsibilities God would give to Jacob according to His plan.  As he came back into Canaan, he spent a long night wrestling with God.  Out of that night comes the name Israel.

The name Israel means one who struggles with God.  Jacob had a strong will and wanted to do things his own way.  God had to continually come to Jacob, provide a course correction, and remind Jacob about the direction he should be heading.  Jacob earned the name Israel.  Jacob was a man of God, but it did not come easily.  Jacob truly understood the wrestling that happens between the human flesh and Godly living.

Over the past week, I’ve spent a long time contemplating this most recent walk through Genesis.  Over the last few months, God has been showing me the humanity of His people.  Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest to follow were human beings.  They struggled with life.  They were imperfect.  They messed up.  Sometimes, they made significant mistakes.  Some of their mistakes were big enough to cause people to die.

God brought Jesus from these imperfect people.  Through their mistakes, God brought His faith into the world.  Through their imperfections, God’s story came to mankind.

God’s glory shines even brighter because of their imperfections.  It’s not hard to imagine an artist taking perfect resources and creating something perfect.  It’s amazing when someone takes flawed resources and creates a masterpiece.  God’s work done through His imperfect people is the greatest example where the whole is far more than the sum of its parts. 

Jacob wrestled with God, making him Israel.  That struggle made him a man of God.  That struggle brought Jacob closer to God.  That struggle brought God’s truth to the world.  God is more than willing to give us space to wrestle with Him.