Sunday 19th October – A Name for Praying

A Name for Praying, Genesis 32:22-31, Jacob at the Jabbok River, pastor adrian kitson

²²That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’

But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’

²⁷The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’

‘Jacob,’ he answered.

²⁸Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’

²⁹Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’

But he replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he blessed him there.

³⁰So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’

³¹The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

There is a lot in a name. Your name tells something of you; your story; your beginnings.

My middle name was my grandad on Mum’s side name. Hopefully it does not describe too much about me. From what I know of grandad, he was a pretty destructive man. So far, I have avoided that story – most of the time!

God is into names. He gave his own personal name to Moses at that burning bush (Exodus 3) – Yahweh. God seems to delight in naming people. He seems to give people new names that don’t describe their first beginnings and identity but their new beginning in him and their calling in his mission to gather the world to himself.

I think of Saul of Tarsus being renamed, Paul, the ‘Sent One’ (the Apostle). I think of Simon being renamed Rock (Petros/Peter). In each case, the new name is both a gift showing a closeness and an intimate awareness of the person on God’s part and a calling – how the person is to carry their new name; status, vocation, calling into God’s future for the person and those to whom the called person will go.

So, here is Jacob. He will be renamed today, but it will take struggle and pain for him to know his real name. He fights it all the way.

For Jacob, his birth name showed that he was a tricky man, a deceptive character, a ‘heal-grabber’, literally. He was the second boy grabbing the heal of his twin brother, Esau, as he came into the world.

Jacob was not only the younger son he was slighter in stature than his hunter, strong man brother, Esau. Jacob learns to live by his wits rather than his strength. Of course, as the eldest, Esau is heir to his father’s blessing and fortune.

There is sibling rivalry from the start.

Jacob’s cheating ways erupted most fiercely on two occasions. Jacob tricks Esau out of his ‘oldest son’ status; dad’s family blessing (inheritance – wealth, future security and status).

A few years later, Jacob deceives his Dad. Dad (Isaac) is old and half-blind and dying. At the crucial moment of the giving of the final blessing Jacob is right there to get it instead by pretending to be Esau. He falsely gets the blessing. Esau is rightly distraught and enraged. Damage done; relationship broken.

Jacob flees to his uncle Laban’s place. Eventually, by his usual trickery, over a decade or more, Jacob manages to rip off Laban and acquire most of his wealth and have both of Laban’s daughters as wives.

It eventually goes sour. Jacob the trickster is fleeing again. We hear that he is en route back to his homeland. He hears that his brother Esau is coming to meet him – but with an army of four hundred men! Oh boy. This blessing he stole could be a curse!

Jacob hides half of his wealth. He sends three caravans of gifts ahead to Esau. He hopes this gets him some way back into his brother’s good graces.

Jacob even sends the rest of his servants and immediate family across the Jabbok river, hoping that even if Esau refuses the caravan of gifts he may, at least, take pity on Jacob at the sight of his defenseless wives and children. Worse comes to worse, he would get a head start on doing a runner!

And then it happens … All alone, pacing around by the dark and troubled river Jacob is attacked by what can only seem like a demon. They wrestle all night long. As day is about to break Jacob seems to be on the verge of surviving. This mysterious “man” who is obviously more than a mere man dislocates Jacob’s hip and demands Jacob release him.

Ever the dealer, “Not until you bless me,” Jacob cries. This “man” must be special; divine. The man says, “Tell me your name.”

Jacob knows the risk. He knows his name is not good. It means “cheat, liar, manipulator”.

Jacob knows by giving his name, especially to an enemy, he is giving away too much. He is ‘fessing up’ to his many flaws as sins.

The sinner is getting his just judgement! We all cheer! So would Laban and Esau if they were there!

But there is not judgement.

²⁸Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’

This special man; the Lord in human form, we trust, does not punish the pretender but re-names him instead. In so doing, for his own reasons and plans, the Lord reshapes this sinner’s character, his present and his future.

The name? “Israel”: one who has wrestled with God and with human beings and has prevailed.

The struggle and the new name and future has its price – Jacob limps away at dawn with a hip problem. But he limps into a promising new day; into a new future. Sound familiar to you? I hope so.

So, who are you? What is your name: your birth name but also your new faith-name, and how are you carrying that name?

If you don’t know your ‘faith-name’, I know where to find it. There is a few that have been bestowed upon you by a new descendent of Jacob.

In a river of tears at night, and with blood on the wood as his body put out of joint, Jesus, the Man of God, the Son of God, wrestled with all evil and dark death and seemed defeated by them.

With those wounds that show the visible price of his struggle, he marches out of the dark struggle at dawn in victory over not just a cheesed-off brother and angry father-in-law, but a dark, hell-bent, dangerous and deceiving Satan and that ‘trickster’ wayward self-orientated heart in each of us.

All of this gifting grace flooded into you when he poured out his life into you in that watery font.

Who are you? What is your name? You are no longer just these names:

The names others put on you: Weakling, too old, too young, divorced, damaged goods, defeated….

Or the names our culture specialises in calling you: consumer, user, taker, buyer, weakling in need of a spiritual crutch, hypocrite, not smart or sophisticated enough, foolish….

Or those names you take on yourself: unworthy, irresponsible, unfaithful, incompetent, worthless…..

Strange how we listen to often to all those names while all the while forgetting or doubting or turning our back on God’s names for us.

In your Jabbok, and in your daily limping on this Man of God drowned and drowns all those names and give you a new name; a new shape; a new life-calling.

“Son of mine, Daughter of mine, Child of mine, Co-heir with me, priest of mine, witness to my grace, person of hope, faith and love; follower, student, teacher of mine.

Worthy, forgiven, graced, purposed, hopeful, lively, useful no matter the strength of the opponent or the length of the struggle or the place of the wrestling.

Your Father says, “You are a loved person!

He gives you his Son’s name, thereby taking a huge risk of not knowing what you will do with his name; with the access to his heart of love it gives. He gives you his loved Son’s name to ask him for everything, hear you all the time, speak with you all the time. We pray “In Jesus’ name”.

Struggle on, Christian friend. Proudly limp out of here with your various wounds and weakness with head held high and a caravan full of this forgiveness to be shared, given and done as much as it is up to you.

Anything less is just going back to those old names, those old habits, that old sibling rivalry, that old anger, that old broken relationship, that old ego and that old future.

Limp with joy in your bones to live another day of his blessing; to live in Jesus’ new day of grace; to pray and listen and live with persistence in the struggles.

MORE REFLECTION

📖 Opening Scripture

Read aloud: Genesis 32:22–31

🧠 Main Message:

The sermon explores how God transforms identity through struggle, using Jacob’s wrestling encounter as a metaphor for spiritual transformation, grace, and calling.

🔍 Key Themes:

Struggle Before Blessing
Jacob wrestles with a mysterious figure (interpreted as God), symbolizing deep spiritual conflict. The struggle is painful but leads to blessing and transformation.
Renaming and Identity
Jacob is renamed Israel—“one who struggles with God and prevails.” This new name marks a shift from his deceptive past to a divinely purposed future.
God’s Grace in Renaming
Instead of punishing Jacob for his past, God gives him a new name and future. This reflects how God redefines us not by our failures but by His grace.
Jesus as the Fulfillment
The sermon draws a parallel to Jesus, who wrestled with evil and death, and through His sacrifice, gives believers new names and identities in Him.
Living with a Limp
Jacob leaves the encounter wounded but changed. The limp symbolizes the cost of transformation and the ongoing journey of faith.

🙋‍♂️ Personal Reflection:

Wrestling with God
- Jacob wrestles with a divine figure, symbolizing deep spiritual struggle.
- Reflect on personal experiences of wrestling with God in prayer or life.
Renaming and Identity
- Jacob is renamed Israel, marking transformation and divine purpose.
- Explore how God’s names for us differ from labels we or others give.
Grace in the Struggle
- Jacob leaves wounded but blessed—transformation often comes with pain.
- Share stories of growth through hardship.
Personal Application
- Consider what name God might be speaking over you today.
- Identify old identities to release and how to live into your “faith-name.”
Prayer Focus
- Pray for courage, clarity in identity, healing, and strength to move forward.