The god of Me. The God of me.

Jacob had come a long way in his relationship with God during his journey from Canaan to Haran and back to Canaan again.

He started out having only heard stories about God from his grandfather and father, but never really having had his own personal experience with the living God.

Then he met God for the first time in Bethel but still didn’t really surrender himself to God completely.

The night he wrestled with God, he was still calling him, “The God of my father Abraham, the God of my father Isaac,” but did not really acknowledge him as his own God. (Genesis 32:9)

But now, after God had proven himself to Jacob, bringing him safely back to Canaan, Jacob built an altar to God, calling it “El Elohe Israel,” which meant “God, the God of Israel.”

It’s easy for me to forget at times that the nation of Israel still didn’t exist at that time, and that God had actually renamed Jacob “Israel.”

So what Jacob was saying was not, “God, the God of the nation of Israel.” He was saying, “God, the God of me.”

For so long, Jacob had lived with the attitude of “the god of Me.”

He lived not to serve God, but to serve himself. He didn’t trust God or wait on God’s timing for things. Instead, he tried to make things happen on his own no matter who he hurt.

But now he was saying, “God, you are the God of me.” And his life was never the same.

This is not to say he would never fail again or struggle with doubt or fear.

But now, at last, God was on the throne of his heart, where he had belonged all along.

How about you? Are you living with the attitude of “the god of Me”?

Are you still trying to live your own way? Are you still living a life not trusting in God, but in yourself alone? Are you still living to please yourself, no matter who it hurts?

Or are you living with the attitude of “God, you’re the God of me”?

As the old hymn says,

All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;

Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.