When you try to run from God, you keep running into Him at every turn. It happened to Jacob. He ran from his brother Esau’s anger, and when things got too hot in his father-in-law’s house, he ran from there too. Finally, when he could run no more, he ran into God at a place called Peniel. And it was there that his name was changed from Jacob the deceiver, to Israel, which means ‘a prince with God’.
The Bible says: ‘Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed”’ (vv. 24-28 NKJV).
When God dislocated Jacob’s hip, in essence He was telling him, ‘Your running days are over, and your limp will be a constant reminder of your total dependence on Me.’ We all need a ‘Jacob experience’. Oswald Chambers said when God wants to use a man, ‘He hammers him and hurts him, and with mighty blows converts him.’ Everything Jacob needed, he found when he ran into the arms of God. The same is true for you.
Song of Songs 4-5, 2 Corinthians 9
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