It's on the journey that you find God

God likes movement. You can turn the steering wheel of a parked car as much as you want, and it won't go anywhere. But if the car is moving, no matter how fast, all you have to do is turn the wheel and it changes direction.

When Jesus called the disciples, He said: "Come, follow me." That's an invitation to movement, to a journey. It's along the way that He works on us. The main text is Genesis 32:22-31, when Jacob wrestles with a man at the ford of the Jabbok and leaves with a new name.

1. God works through movement

We have a natural tendency to think God will act while we stay still, like Elijah inside the cave. In church history, there were people who went into the desert to live in isolation, doing almost nothing.

Sometimes someone says: "I'm going to stay quiet in my little corner, because I've already suffered and gotten hurt." But a body at rest tends to stay at rest.

Resting isn't standing still. Taking a vacation is resting at the right time.
You can slow down. But stopping is never the answer.
You won't be healed outside of movement. The paralyzed man at Bethesda was waiting for the water to be stirred (John 5:7).

2. The journey is a mystery

We want God to give us the map for the next 20 kilometers, but usually He shows us the next 20 meters. A mystery is a hidden truth that hasn't been revealed yet. And God has reasons for that:

If He showed us everything, we'd stop depending on Him and try to skip steps.
We probably wouldn't accept who we'll be five years from now.

A few years ago I was a hard-core Assemblies of God believer. I wouldn't wear shorts outside the house and didn't even like walking into another church. If God had told me back then that I'd be a pastor in a different church, I wouldn't have accepted it and would have thought I was wasting my time. God wants what you're living right now, because that's how He is transforming your life.

3. Jacob's journey

Jacob deceived his father to receive the blessing of the firstborn, which Esau had already despised and sold for a bowl of stew. He fled from his brother and went to Paddan Aram, to Laban's house. There, the deceiver was deceived: he worked seven years for Rachel, was given Leah, and had to work seven more. After fourteen years, he still had empty hands.

Now, on his way back to the promised land, he sends his family and possessions across the Jabbok and stays behind alone. A man wrestles with him until daybreak. From the context, it was God Himself: the text says Jacob struggled with God.

From that struggle, I draw four things God does in our lives during the journey.

4. The encounter: the struggle in the secret place

Jacob didn't seek loneliness; he sought solitude. Someone who seeks loneliness isolates themselves, even from God. Someone who seeks solitude looks for stillness in order to meet God. Jesus taught us to pray in our room, in secret (Matt 6:6), and even in Gethsemane He took three disciples close to Him.

It's in the secret place that life's battles are fought. These experiences are challenging: like the press that crushes the olive, they draw out of us what God wants to draw out.

5. The mark

The man touched Jacob's hip and left him limping. Every encounter with God leaves a mark. Paul said he bore on his body the marks of Jesus (Gal 6:17).

God's marks are tied to our weaknesses, distresses, and impossibilities.
In our distress, God didn't leave us adrift. He was actively involved.
God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9).

Jacob was running at full speed, and the mark brought his steps into line. But there are far more people who need a push than people who need to be slowed down, and it's easier to correct someone who is already doing something.

Don't blame the cloud for not moving. There's a whole Bible full of commands. You don't learn to be a father before you have a child, and you don't sanctify yourself on your own so you can come to God afterward: He is the one who sanctifies you, on the journey.

6. The confrontation

The two defining episodes of Jacob's life are about the blessing. Before his father, he lied: "I am Esau." Now, before the man, he has to answer: "What is your name?"

Jacob means supplanter, the one who grabs the heel to get ahead. He grew up hearing that, and he carried the stigma that he had to deceive for things to work out, even the things God had already promised him before he was born (Gen 25:23).

I also carried a stigma since my teenage years: that I start things and never finish them. It became part of my identity, until Jesus began to break that lie in my mind.

God knew Jacob's name, but He wanted a confession. You need to open your heart in the secret place, talk about the envy, the pride, what's really in there, and surrender. Without surrender, there is no correction.

7. The transformation

The man said his name would no longer be Jacob, but Israel (Gen 32:28). For twenty years he had carried a blessing that looked like a fraud, like someone who feels guilty for what they have. Now a new season begins: no longer the deceiver's, but the wrestler's.

God doesn't erase the past, but He gives it new meaning to reveal the future.
Jacob was born from Rebekah's womb; Israel was born from the encounter with God.
There is a white stone with a new name kept for us (Rev 2:17). God already knows our identity and wants to reveal it on the journey.

We're not running in order to be saved or to become children. We already are. The journey is about knowing Him more and going deeper into the river, until the water is too deep to stand in.

Conclusion

It's on the journey that you find God, and in finding God, you find yourself. He brings experiences, leaves marks, confronts stigmas, and transforms your name. But for the new to happen, you need to get moving and leave the old behind.

Are you moving with God, or standing still waiting for a complete map? What stigma do you need to confess to Him today to receive a new name?