SERMONS

From the moment God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, the name Abram was never used again. Yet, after God changed Jacob’s name, his old name was employed twice as much as his new name in the remaining chapters of Genesis. Jacob became a changed man as the result of wrestling with God at Peniel. Yet, he also remained unchanged. Apparently, there remained a lot of the old man in the new patriarch, just as there often remains a lot of the old man or woman in us.

When the chickens come home to roost, being optimistic is almost impossible. How often Jacob had thought of the very moment that now came upon him. Would he survive? Would he have a future? He wanted to be flush with hope, but the regrets had piled so high they seemed to hide even the possibility of hope. Yet, God used this precise event to produce usefulness in Jacob. It is at the Jabbok River that he left behind the immaturity of the past and, at last, took a huge step toward spiritual adulthood. Your Jabbok may be just ahead.