Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
So sometimes I come to Jesus and I still feel hungry. And I sometimes am thirsty when I believe in Him. So I thought that, hey, let’s look at some of those folks in the Bible whose stories are there so that we can know the many ways that God has shown Himself to man, the folks that fought it out, who refused to go away until they were filled. Like the Gentile woman who demanded the crumbs from under the table and the blind man who cried out all the more,”Jesus have mercy on me.” Jacob came to mind, and while there in Genesis, I stumbled across an interesting footnote. The name Israel, which came to represent the idea of God’s chosen people, or even perhaps, God’s Chosen One, means “He who struggles with God.”
So that struggle is in the mix somehow, somewhere in there with being led by still waters and the crawling up into the Abba Father comfort. It is not easy in this broken world, which we see through a glass darkly, but like dear Peter, who calls a spade a spade, I can but say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? I have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
And hold out my plate for at least one more slice.
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
So sometimes I come to Jesus and I still feel hungry. And I sometimes am thirsty when I believe in Him. So I thought that, hey, let’s look at some of those folks in the Bible whose stories are there so that we can know the many ways that God has shown Himself to man, the folks that fought it out, who refused to go away until they were filled. Like the Gentile woman who demanded the crumbs from under the table and the blind man who cried out all the more,”Jesus have mercy on me.” Jacob came to mind, and while there in Genesis, I stumbled across an interesting footnote. The name Israel, which came to represent the idea of God’s chosen people, or even perhaps, God’s Chosen One, means “He who struggles with God.”
So that struggle is in the mix somehow, somewhere in there with being led by still waters and the crawling up into the Abba Father comfort. It is not easy in this broken world, which we see through a glass darkly, but like dear Peter, who calls a spade a spade, I can but say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? I have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
And hold out my plate for at least one more slice.
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