Jacob's Superhuman Strength

How to Build Your Most Important Muscle

A coach I knew loved the quote attributed to Henry Ford:

"If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right."

Belief shapes action. When we think we can, we will. When we think we can’t, we don’t. Attitude leads to aptitude.

This insight helps us understand a fascinating incident in the life of the biblical patriarch Jacob. He arrives at a well in a strange town. There he encounters a group of shepherds waiting to water their flock.

But they need to move a heavy boulder sitting atop the well. They tell Jacob they have to wait until all the other shepherds come to the well so they can move it together.

But then Jacob walks over to the well and moves the boulder on his first try!

What is the Bible trying to tell with this story? Is it simply the ancient equivalent of an arm-wrestling contest, and God wants to show us how strong Jacob is?

No, it is much more than that. We get a glimpse of its message in one of the early Jewish interpretations.

This commentator said, "To Jacob, the boulder appeared like a tiny hole in a strainer." In other words, Jacob did not see a massive unmovable rock. He saw a tiny stone.

The shepherds saw a large boulder. And they gave up without even trying. Perhaps they had wanted to move it before and failed. So now they didn't even bother.

We can sympathize with them. Have you ever told yourself you couldn’t do something, but then you eventually did it?

Little kids tell themselves they can't ride a bike, but soon realize how wrong they were. People tell themselves they can't give up alcohol or drugs, and then eventually they do.

We are capable of so much more than we imagine. What stops us is fear. But where does that fear come from? Why were the shepherds afraid to lift the boulder? Why are we afraid to try a new job or develop a new relationship?

I suspect it is fear of failure and rejection.

We human beings yearn to feel safe and accepted. Trying something new—where we might fail or get rejected by another person—evokes a primal fear. So we avoid it.

And that fear spreads. We don't want to stand out by trying something new, especially if we risk failing in front of everybody.

But Jacob offers a different response. When we act in the face of fear, we gain the strength to do what seems impossible! We discover a well of strength we didn't know we had.

In the Bible, the well is not only a well. It is the source, the foundation, of our strength. We have to take the first step—we have to move the boulder—to gain access to it. Once we do that, we can use the immense reserves of strength hidden within.

But why do the rabbis say the boulder was like a tiny stone to Jacob? Are they saying he had an easy time doing what many of us find difficult?

No. They are saying he knew where to focus. He did not let the stone become a boulder. He controlled his mind so he could act with his body. His faith did not falter.

Jacob reminds me a bit of a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln. “If I had eight hours to cut down a tree,” Lincoln said, “I'd spend six hours sharpening my axe.”

Maintaining his attitude, his confidence, his faith—that is Jacob's version of sharpening the axe. His character—his devotion to following God's words—makes him the kind of person who will not let a stone become a boulder.

In other words, Jacob's strength was in the mind, not the muscle. He had an iron will, even if he was not a modern-day Iron Man. That's the strength that truly matters.

It allowed him to survive 20 years in service to his Uncle Laban, and then another 20 years thinking his son Joseph was dead. It allowed him to wrestle with an angel and say, "I will not let you go until you bless me." Jacob's strength is among our greatest blessings.