Face Me

Jacob had been wrestling his entire life.

Right out of the womb, he grabbed his brother’s leg (Genesis 25:26). 

Not long after, he seized Esau’s birthright (Genesis 25:31). 

Before he left home, he took Isaac’s blessing (Genesis 27:27).

And at last, in the fields of Haran, he negotiated for wages and wives (Genesis 29:18).

Since he was a child, Jacob had been sizing up his position. He had spent all his life facing the outside world—trying to get favor, fighting for security.

In all his wrestling with his position, he had not yet wrestled with the Lord. So God sends him straight into a situation he could not win.

With Esau’s four hundred warriors heading his way, Jacob tries to manage his fear by sending tokens of peace ahead (Genesis 32:13-21). Right in the thick of his flurried management, the Lord finally gets him alone:

“And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. … Then [the man] said, ‘Let me go, for the day has broken.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’

“And he said, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.’

“So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.’” (Genesis 32:24-30)

Jacob had been anxiously striving to “appease [Esau’s] face” and “see [Esau’s] face” so that he would “lift [Jacob’s] face” (Genesis 32:20).

The Lord ends the endless striving by bringing Jacob face to face.

At the end of the wrestle, Jacob comes away with a new name and a new identity (Genesis 32:28). No longer is he attached to the deceiver who struggled for position. After the encounter, he takes the name of one who has held onto God.

In Jacob’s greatest struggle, God challenged him to a better match. Through the wrestle, the Lord grapples with his heart: Struggle with me. Face me. Look at me. Get the blessing that you need from me. Stop trying to figure it out. Come face to face with me, and the giant threat looming on the horizon will fall flat before my glory.

Take the central struggle of your life, and ask yourself: Have I fully faced God over this?

The isolated wrestle feels unbearable. But once you wrestle with the Lord over it, the sun rises in the soul (Genesis 32:31). You look up without fear and face what you once thought was unmanageable (Genesis 33:1).

God gives new names to those who drop their self-management and enter the ring with him.