— by J.D. Greear

The story of Jacob in the Old Testament is a fascinating tale of pride, humility, success, failure and a man who (quite literally) wrestled with the Lord. His upbringing and family dynamics led him to a life of seeking—often deceptively—the next level of success and proving himself. JD Greear explains how understanding the life of this persistent father in the faith and Old Testament leader can help modern-day entrepreneurs avoid some common pitfalls and walk in the loving grace and freedom of Jesus.

[Jacob was] scrappy, innovative, resourceful, ruthless and even deceitful. He was just willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. His name, Jacob, even meant deceiver. Well, like I said, he was very successful. But eventually, as often happens, some of his ruthlessness caught up with him. He found himself at a point of personal failure. And we'll go into all the details. But it was it was business failure, family failure. He's fearful for his own personal safety, even with that very night as Jacob's struggle with all this worry, doubt and despair. Genesis, 32, tells us that God appeared to him in the form of an angel and wrestled all night with him. Jacob had been able to overcome most things in his life, but he could not beat this divine opponent. 

It's supposed to be symbolic of what was happening in his life. You see, a lot of things happened in that divine encounter, but most significant of which is that Jacob learned to know God as the one he couldn't overcome…and that it wasn't all on him to get the job done. He learned to depend on God. And so he ceased to have to be ruthless.

Jacob was touched by God in his hip socket. So from that point on, Jacob would walk with a limp. The best leaders usually lead with a limp. And that's because they've come to a point where they realize they can't do it on their own. And they realize that they have to trust God. They have to submit to him. And they have to do it his way. They stop being ruthless, unhealthily driven, willing to sacrifice their family or their people around them or their health or their integrity to get the job done. They stop being unethical and instead they patiently and faithfully do their work. Just trust in God to be their supply. They realize that for the person who walks with God, faithfulness, not effectiveness, is the measure of success. 

A venture capitalist friend often tells me that venture capitalists are not always eager to invest in somebody whose first ever venture was a big success quickly. Sometimes it's the entrepreneur who has shown tenacity through a couple of failures that ends up being the better bet…Moses, for example, failed before he became the leader of Israel. King David and the apostle Paul both have long, frustrating times of waiting before God actually began to use them powerfully. 

And in four basic phrases: there's bad news, there's worse news, there's good news, and there's better news. Bad news is you and I are separated from God and because of our separation from God, we'll spend eternity apart from him. You say that that is bad news. What could possibly be worse? Well, the worse news is there's literally nothing that you and I can do about it. No amount of religion, no matter of intentions to be good, no amount of church attendance or money given can change the reality. The good news is what we couldn't do, God did for us. He came as his Son and he died in our place so that he could offer salvation to all who would receive it. The best news, the better news, is that all you have to do is receive it as a gift. Ephesians 2:9 says that it is by grace. Grace is a free gift, that you and I are saved through faith. Faith means just receiving what God says that he did for you. And it's not of ourselves. It's the gift of God. It's not works, not a human accomplishment, so that nobody can boast. It's faith in what Jesus has done. 

When we understand that we're just humble servants that are focused on obedience, trusting that if we do what God wants, he will be our sufficiency and our supply. 

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