Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” - Genesis 32:26

Jacob got off to a bad start in life. When it came to business practices, he had more angles than a pyramid! First with his mother's help he cheated his older brother, Esau, out of his blessing. Then reaping what he sowed he got cheated by his father-in-law into working 14 years for the woman he loved, instead of 7 and into having to marry her sister also. Then his father-in-law tried to cheat him further but God turned it into a blessing. When he finally headed home to face his brother, one night he found himself wrestling with an angel or the Lord. He wrestled him until daybreak. As the sun rose the angel said to him the words of the verse above, but Jacob refused to let him go unless he blessed him. At that point the angel (or the Lord) changed his name, from Jacob, which means "deceiver" to Israel which means, "God perseveres" or "one who wrestles with God".

Up until this time Jacob had thought that wealth would bring him happiness, but it didn't; it almost cost him his family. Sound familiar? But after wrestling with God he got a new name, a new nature, a new walk (with a limp) and a new future. Isn't that what you want (apart from the limp)? Well the good news is that you can have, a new name, a new nature, a new path, a new future! The Bible says:

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come- 2 Corinthians 5:17

Jacob was a self-made man. He had gone from a 90lb weakling getting sand kicked in his face, by his brother, to a skilled hard working livestock manager, working for his Uncle who was to become his father-in-law. Part of the process of his transformation was an encounter with God on the way to his Uncle's, but it wasn't until he decided to return home that the transformation was completed. He had learned to trust God, he had become more honest and ethical, more considerate of others, and he had become a wealthy man, but he wasn't enjoying the life he'd made for himself. He may have been a little homesick, but mainly he knew he had been born for a purpose, greater than merely acquiring 'stuff', also I believe that God had placed on his heart that he needed to make amends with his brother Esau. He needed to return to the land promised by God to his family, to be where God wanted him to be. Along the way he "wrestles with God", not in the theological, mental, emotion way that we often do, but physically!

The story in a nutshell is that God took a 90lb weakling, who was a liar, a cheat and a Mama's boy and transformed him into a real man, who could wrestle with God and hold his own against him long enough to earn his blessing! Who was then able to face his greatest fear (his brother Esau). God transformed Jacob, and he can transform you, if you let Him!