Wrestling for Blessing | The Called - Jacob

What does it mean to be called by God? And what happens when that calling feels completely at odds with our past, our failures, or our sense of unworthiness?

The story of Jacob reminds us that God is not put off by brokenness. In fact, God often works through the most unlikely people. Jacob’s life is not a story of moral perfection or effortless faith. It is a story of struggle, deception, fear, and grace — and ultimately, blessing.

Called by God — Even When It Doesn’t Make Sense

Scripture makes something clear from the very beginning: every one of us is called by God. Yet God’s calling often surprises us. He does not always choose the obvious candidate or the person who appears most qualified. Again and again, God picks unlikely people.

Jacob is one of those people.

Even before his birth, God revealed that Jacob’s life would defy expectations. Though he was the younger twin, God declared that the older would serve the younger. In a culture where the firstborn received honour, inheritance, and blessing, this was shocking. God was already rewriting the rules.

Jacob entered the world grasping his brother’s heel — an image that would shape his name and his future. The name “Jacob” means heel-grabber or deceiver, and tragically, Jacob lived up to it. He manipulated his brother out of his birthright and later deceived his blind father to steal the family blessing. His actions fractured relationships and eventually forced him to flee for his life.

Jacob was not blameless. He was not righteous. He was not an obvious choice.

And yet, God called him.

Grace That Isn’t Earned

On the run from his brother, Jacob encountered God in a dream — a stairway reaching from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. God stood above it and reaffirmed the promise first given to Abraham and Isaac: land, descendants, blessing, and a future through which all nations would be blessed.

What’s striking is not just the promise, but the recipient.

God did not wait for Jacob to clean up his life. He did not demand repentance first or list Jacob’s failures. God chose him because of God’s own faithfulness, not Jacob’s goodness. This is a pattern we see throughout Scripture: when God calls people, He does so on the basis of His character, not theirs.

This truth matters deeply, because many of us disqualify ourselves. We tell ourselves that God couldn’t possibly use someone like us. We assume our past mistakes have closed the door to God’s purposes. Jacob’s story tells us otherwise.

Wrestling with God

Years later, after building a family and accumulating wealth, Jacob was called by God to return home — back to the brother he had wronged. Fear resurfaced. What if Esau still wanted revenge? What if everything Jacob had gained was about to be lost?

The night before meeting his brother, Jacob found himself alone by a river. And there, in one of the most mysterious scenes in Scripture, a man wrestled with him until daybreak. Jacob refused to let go until he was blessed.

In that moment, everything changed.

God asked Jacob his name — not because God didn’t know it, but because Jacob needed to confront it. He had lived his whole life striving, grasping, deceiving, and wrestling to secure blessing for himself. Now he was face to face with the only one who could truly bless him.

God gave Jacob a new name: Israel — one who struggles with God.

Jacob left that encounter with a limp and a transformed identity. He was marked physically, but he was also changed internally. The striving had ended. The blessing had been received.

Blessing Changes Us

From that point on, Jacob no longer chased blessing. He gave it. He blessed others freely because he finally knew he was blessed by God.

This is a crucial lesson. Blessing is not something we secure through effort or manipulation. It is something God gives by grace. Sometimes God invites us to wrestle — not to withhold blessing, but to transform us through the struggle.

When we wrestle with God, we learn dependence. We learn humility. We are shaped more deeply into who God is calling us to be.

When You Don’t Feel Blessed

Life can be hard. Even when we know we are called by God, there are seasons where blessing feels distant. Jacob’s story reminds us that God’s absence is not the same as God’s indifference. Sometimes, God is working beneath the surface, forming us in ways we don’t yet understand.

God cares deeply about who we are becoming, not just what we receive. And even when blessing feels delayed, God remains faithful.

A God Who Rewrites Stories

Jacob’s life proves that God is in the business of redemption. He takes deceivers and makes them fathers of nations. He takes broken people and leads them into a blessed future. He replaces old names with new identities.

If Jacob’s story tells us anything, it is this: your past does not have the final word. God does.

You are called.

You are known.

You are blessed — not because of your perfection, but because of God’s grace.

Pastor Joe Davis