Genesis 35:10
So Jacob becomes Israel. Jacob of all the lying to his dad and his brother and messing around and fathering kids with two sisters and their respective nurses and et, etc, etc sins gets re-named.
And from everything I have read in the first 35 chapters it is pretty apparent that when God gives you a new name, it is a pretty big deal.
I am confident that Jacob certainly knew that God thought he was pretty cool stuff, but I can't imagine that Big Jake had any sense that his new name would become the name of one of the most important nations in the history of the world.
I do not think that when Jacob sent out for new business cards that they read
Name: "Israel (the prophet formerly known as Jacob)
Address: Wandering (but one day I will have an important nation named after me)
Lineage: Fruitful and forever multiplying
No, I think Jacob was "man…how many times did I almost train wreck this thing, and how many times did God give me a 'phone-a-friend' and how many times did I go all short-term-thinking when God was 'look to the future and how many times did I run from what God wanted when if I had listened life would have/could have/should have been so much easier."
I am so thankful for guys like Big Jake and the reminder that God uses/loves people, not perfect people.
(I wonder what God would rename me if He decided I needed a new name…?)
Out of Context God 
Posted on December 27, 2009
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