Questioning God

‘WHY?’ QUESTIONS No.2

Gen 32:29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

There are times in life when everyone wonders about God. Who is God? For many people I suspect it is only a brief thought. For a good number of others they will think longer, but perhaps only see the questions as some juvenile intellectual wonderings, and move on to some other mind exercises. But a question that must arise in many people’s minds must be, if there is a God, what sort of person is He? Millions across the globe have very confused ideas about the answer to this question, and many are unable to put a definite description to His character, and many worship idols made by man’s hands, as if they contain some form of deity. But it is a natural and right question to ask. Moses in his first encounter with the Lord at the burning bush asked, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, `What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Ex 3:13 ). In this he was following in Jacob’s footsteps.

For the Hebrews, names were significant. Names meant something. Names conveyed something about a person. For instance consider the first called-out relationship with God in the Bible, that of Abraham: “Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” (Gen 17:3-5). The notes at the bottom of the page in your Bible will tell you that Abram means exalted father and Abraham means father of many.

Then his son, “Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac” (Gen 17:19) and the note tells you that Isaac means he laughs, a constant reminder to them that Sarah laughed at the thought of having a child in her old age.

Following Isaac we find: “When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob” (Gen 25:24-26) and your notes will tell you Esau simply means hairy or red and Jacob means he deceives or twister. (What a name to get over!).

After the encounter above, we find, “Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (Gen 32:28) and Israel means he struggled with God or he overcame.

Following them we find, “She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.” (Gen 30:24) and Joseph means he adds, a name of future hope once she has at last a child.

Prophetic names, names that spoke of who they were or what they would do. Even Moses: “When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water” (Ex 2:10) and Moses means draws out.

Abraham was a name declaring God’s purpose, Isaac was a reminder of God’s sovereignty, Jacob was a reminder of a nature to be overcome, Israel, that with God’s help he had overcome, Joseph a prophetic declaration that God would add salvation through him, and Moses a prophetic declaration that God would draw out Israel from Egypt. Significant stuff!

Thus Jacob, the twister, wrestles all night with a man (32:24), God in human form. Jacob is wrestling with God. What do you do when you wrestle? You try to get the other person to submit, thus we find God wresting with Jacob to get him to submit to Him – be he won’t. They wrestle through the night. The future of the Hebrews hangs on the outcome. Will Jacob submit to God? Will God be able to get Jacob to let Him lead his life and his future family? So they wrestle.

Jacob wouldn’t give way so God puts his hip out of joint. He is now struggling in great pain and weakness. The outcome becomes more sure. Jacob can’t you see that you can’t overcome God? Submit! The man tells him, “Let me go!” but he won’t. Jacob is beginning to realize who it is (if he hadn’t known before), who it was he was wrestling with and so says, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (v.26) So the man asks Jacob his name. He makes him face up to who he is, the sort of person that this name accurately described. The start of blessing is facing who we are. Jacob confesses it and is renamed, but carries on wrestling. Now there are other issues at stake. Now he asks, “Please tell me your name.” [It is a question - Who are you?] Note the ‘please’. He is saying, I want to know you. Now the interesting thing here is that God doesn’t give him an answer. For Jacob it was to be a life of faith, working out who this Almighty God is. It wasn’t until Moses asked the question that we find the answer, “I AM”, or the eternal One, the One who always is.

We can short circuit your question by “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8) and if you want to put content to that, look at Jesus, but the truth is that when any one of us wonders, we need a personal answer, we need to know for ourselves just who God is. You can know it in your mind as you read these notes and you read the Bible, but you need to hear the Lord Himself express to you, who He is for you. He needs to be personal for you. Ask Him, seek Him and know Him.