His Name is Changed

Based on the LGG Study, From the Beginning to Forever/w2d4

Read: Genesis 27:19-29 and 35:9-15; SOAP: Genesis 35:11

Then God said to him, “I am the Sovereign God. Be fruitful and multiply! A nation–even a company of nations–will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants!

Genesis 35:11

As we move on our journey, remember that God promised to make Abraham’s family a great nation. Here we meet one of Isaac’s sons, Jacob. Jacob’s name means ‘deceiver,” and he lives up to his name.

On our journey this week, we have been introduced to or reacquainted with Abraham and his son Isaac, and today’s passage introduces the third patriarch, Jacob. Jacob was one of the sons of Isaac and a twin brother to Esau. If you’ve read their story, then you know that in his younger years, Jacob was both a manipulator and a deceiver. Not only does he manipulate and deceive his twin, Esau, by tricking him into giving Jacob his birthright for a measly bowl of stew, but he also tricks and manipulates his father, Isaac. into giving him the blessing of the firstborn son, which was rightfully Esau’s.

The LGG Journal entry says it best:

Jacob is one of the most unlikely people God could use to bring glory to His name and from whom the promised Rescuer would come. But God is in the business of doing the impossible.

Later in Genesis 35, God meets Jacob and changes his name to Israel. God reaffirms the command to Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply as well as the promise to Abraham that his family would be a great nation.

God would keep His promise and provide Jacob with twelve sons. These twelve sons would become the twelve tribes of Israel. Here again, God gives us another puzzle piece to find the Savior. Now we know that He would be an Israelite.

You may read this and feel similarly to Jacob. You may feel like the most unlikely candidate for God to use. Remember, you were born with a purpose, and God uses the most unlikely of people, places, and things in His story of redemption.

LGG Journal, From the Beginning to Forever/p181

Because I know all too well who I was before God changed my name, every time I read this story, I am reminded how good it is to know that God redeems even the worst of us! Even me.

Friends, if you read this and find yourselves feeling like the most unlikely candidates God to use – remember these final words of encouragement from today’s journal:

Remember, you were born with a purpose, and God uses the most unlikely of people, places, and things in His story of redemption.