In the end, wrestling with God, ultimately draws us closer to Him.
I recently read the account of Jacob wrestling with God found in Genesis, Chapter 32. I’ve always found this story fascinating. God appeared to Jacob in the form of a human and allowed him to wrestle with Him physically, all night long. When it was daybreak and Jacob was still at it, He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip and disabled him. Most accounts report that Jacob walked with a limp for the rest of his life.
God could have destroyed Jacob on the spot. He didn’t. He allowed Jacob to wrestle with Him. In the end, God gave him a new name, possibly because he was a changed man after wrestling with God. He was affected spiritually as well as physically, for the rest of his life. Israel was born.
There was another man who wrestled with God named Jonah. Jonah was a prophet. God told him to preach to the people of Nineveh. Jonah declined and headed in the opposite direction. He boarded a boat. There was a storm. He was eaten by a giant fish.
God could have simply destroyed Jonah. He didn’t. He allowed him his temper tantrum. He allowed him to wrestle too. In the end, he did go to Nineveh and around 120,000 people’s lives were spared.
Jacob was Abraham’s grandson. He had been raised to know God intimately. Jonah was a prophet. He too, was well acquainted with God. I find it interesting that the people who seem to struggle with God the most strongly are the ones who know Him best.
It’s not the lost soul on the street who most often, struggles with God. It’s His children. But, I suppose most families are like that.
How often have you heard that a child behaved fabulously at school or for a neighbor, but that same child is a holy terror at home?
And so it is with the family of God. We can’t really wrestle with Him if we don’t know Him or we can’t hear His voice. If God and His word, are strangers to us, we can walk around in blissful ignorance about our calling. But, we also walk around without salvation and grace. We can walk around blind and lost. It’s a choice.
It’s when we get to know Him like Jacob, or Jonah, or even Moses, that we sometimes find ourselves wrestling with His call on our lives or with something that we read in His word.
And like any great father, He will allow it for a time. For it’s quite often in the wrestling, that we find our answers; we find our way; we find our peace. We draw closer to Him. We come to understand that He always has a plan and that He’s always in control and when we come to understand and embrace that, we are blessed.
Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂