I recently listened to a teaching that hit on this subject. Jacob’s name meant deceiver and that name marked him. He made his choices and like all of us faced disappointment. Disappointment is a funny thing if left unchecked because it can grow into a spiritual cancer.
Why is disappointment such a dangerous thing to live with? It comes down to what that disappointment leads us to believe about God and ourselves. The primary lie that the devil would speak to us about God is that he really isn’t good. While with ourselves he will attempt to use that disappointment to name you.
So what is it about a name that is so valuable?
Look at Jacob. He was named deceiver and while I won’t go into the full story of his life, you can glance at it and see it was littered with deceptive actions. But since the devil is a liar and is wrong about God not being good we get to see a redemptive marking on Jacob and on ourselves.
Jacob had to walk a long road to be renamed and had to reap what he had sown. But he also had to go back to his place of greatest disappointment (hint — Esau). When Jacob walked his road and faced his disappointments something in him shifted and he received a new name.
What was the shift?
The shift was in his seeing. He was able to see rightly who God is and in turn was able to recieve who God said he was. When he journeyed back and humbled himself he was called Israel, meaning prince of God. And because he faced his disappointment and received the new identity it gave him the authority to place identity on others.
When Rachel was on her death bed with the birth of their son Benjamin she attempted to give him a name that meant son of my sorrow. But Israel knew the value of a name. He revoked that name and called his son Benjamin, meaning the son of my strength. Because he did not allow his disappointments to name him had authority to give his son a proper name.
So what is your name?
A Look Behind the Curtain 