Wrestling with faith
This week's verses are Genesis 32:22-30:
Here's another face to face encounter with God. Only instead of upright, righteous Abraham, like last week, we have sneaky, double-crossing Jacob. Jacob, the slippery, deceitful, betrayer of his own father, who became the father of the nation of Israel. But behind that awful behavior was an unmatched tenacity. Jacob is stubborn enough to fight God!
Like for his grandfather Abraham, God appears to Jacob in the form of a man. But look at the difference! Abraham was a master at the art of welcome. He was a sort of statesman, ruling over a large part of the region. When he encountered God, he wanted to build a connection. Not so with Jacob.
Jacob wants to win. He wants to wrestle. He won't give up. He keeps pushing and pushing until God has to strike him to make him back down. He blows out his hip. I guess you could say Jacob was victorious in his defeat. He lost the match, but he won God's respect. He demands a blessing from God and gets it.
How crazy is that though? Imagine you wrestled someone infinitely weaker than you, and they wouldn't quit. And then when you made them quit, they still wouldn't quit? And they wanted to get paid! What does it say about God's patient character that he honored it?
Prayer and our relationship with God can be intense! We are not equals by any measure. And yet God comes to meet us where we're at, taking on a form at times that corresponds exactly to who we are. For Abraham, he got to showcase his welcoming heart, great wealth, and mastery of hospitality. For Jacob, he got to show just how far he could go. It's a level of connection that goes beyond words, to touch us at a place that is soul deep. God knows our hearts.
There's a connection between God and man, but they are not equals. Jacob "reveals" his name to God, but God doesn't answer when the question is turned back at him. God doesn't have to answer to anyone. Jacob realizes what has happened and resolves to remember the place where he survived a intense encounter with God. He cuts his losses and celebrates his win.
Not all of us are wrestlers, but have you had an experience like this with God? Something so intense you resolved to remember it? If so, take some time to celebrate how lucky you are to have had that experience. Not everyone is so fortunate. But if not, pray that God will encounter you in a personal way, like he encountered Abraham and Jacob.
During the night Jacob quickly took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream along with all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he struck the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, “unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” He answered, “Jacob.” “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, “but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” “Why do you ask my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, explaining, “Certainly I have seen God face to face and have survived.”
Here's another face to face encounter with God. Only instead of upright, righteous Abraham, like last week, we have sneaky, double-crossing Jacob. Jacob, the slippery, deceitful, betrayer of his own father, who became the father of the nation of Israel. But behind that awful behavior was an unmatched tenacity. Jacob is stubborn enough to fight God!
Like for his grandfather Abraham, God appears to Jacob in the form of a man. But look at the difference! Abraham was a master at the art of welcome. He was a sort of statesman, ruling over a large part of the region. When he encountered God, he wanted to build a connection. Not so with Jacob.
Jacob wants to win. He wants to wrestle. He won't give up. He keeps pushing and pushing until God has to strike him to make him back down. He blows out his hip. I guess you could say Jacob was victorious in his defeat. He lost the match, but he won God's respect. He demands a blessing from God and gets it.
How crazy is that though? Imagine you wrestled someone infinitely weaker than you, and they wouldn't quit. And then when you made them quit, they still wouldn't quit? And they wanted to get paid! What does it say about God's patient character that he honored it?
Prayer and our relationship with God can be intense! We are not equals by any measure. And yet God comes to meet us where we're at, taking on a form at times that corresponds exactly to who we are. For Abraham, he got to showcase his welcoming heart, great wealth, and mastery of hospitality. For Jacob, he got to show just how far he could go. It's a level of connection that goes beyond words, to touch us at a place that is soul deep. God knows our hearts.
There's a connection between God and man, but they are not equals. Jacob "reveals" his name to God, but God doesn't answer when the question is turned back at him. God doesn't have to answer to anyone. Jacob realizes what has happened and resolves to remember the place where he survived a intense encounter with God. He cuts his losses and celebrates his win.
Not all of us are wrestlers, but have you had an experience like this with God? Something so intense you resolved to remember it? If so, take some time to celebrate how lucky you are to have had that experience. Not everyone is so fortunate. But if not, pray that God will encounter you in a personal way, like he encountered Abraham and Jacob.
Great as always, bless you!
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