Read:
The name Jacob has a pretty unflattering meaning in Hebrew. It translates to “heel-grabber,” but it comes with some other implications as well: he who closely follows others, who hides his own intentions, who manipulates others’ feelings—and Jacob lived up to all of these.
For starters, Jacob was born literally holding onto his twin brother’s heel. But Jacob also manipulated his way to getting his brother’s birthright by taking advantage of him. He deceived his father to steal a blessing. Then he spent years running from the fallout.
One night, alone by a river, Jacob wrestled—literally—with God until daybreak. He walked away with a limp, and with a new name: Israel. God named a whole nation after this man with a messy past and a wake of fractured relationships behind him.
Jacob’s limp never went away. He carried the marks of who he’d been. But God didn’t define him by his worst moments. He gave him a new name.
You might carry your own mistakes and regrets into every room you walk into. But what you’ve done doesn’t get the last word on who you are. Not if God has anything to say about it.
Pray: God, there are things in my past I can’t undo. Thank you that you don’t define me by them. Help me embrace the new name you give me: Forgiven. Amen.