April 28

"Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.” Genesis 32:29

After his struggle at Jabbok Jacob wanted to know who “touched him,” but he was not told. Jacob did not know who the Wrestler was when he came, and he knew no more when he went, Jacob just knew that his own name had been changed—and that he limped! This is the only time in Scripture when God declined to reveal his name to a servant of his.

Those touched by God do not know what has happened. That is why the touch is so difficult to define, for God does not want us to wait for an experience. If we do, we shall not get it. God wants our eye fixed on him, not on experiences. Jacob only knew that somehow God had met him, and that now he was crippled. The limp is the evidence. When God does his work in us in his own way, the result will be evident in us, and there will be no need to talk about it.