Wrestling with God

50 Days to Freedom: Day Five

Genesis 32-33

Jacob has a problem.  He is a scoundrel.  He sins.  Not only does he sin, but he pays the price of his sin.  He sins and then things break, like his relationship with Esau; Jacob, and everyone around him, are experiencing both sin and brokenness.  But regardless, because of His promise, God still chooses to bless Jacob and make him wealthy in the foreign land before God calls him back to the land of promise. 

 

Just like God met Jacob on his way out of the Promised Land, so he also meets him on the way back into the Promised Land.  We can learn a few things about how God meets us in our lives:

1.       God meets us through our vulnerability and brokenness—Jacob’s clear demonstration of fear of Esau and submission to Esau reflects 14+ years of apprehension, guilt and pain over this broken relationship.  He expects Esau to be looking for justice.  The  night before this meeting is the night when God comes to wrestle with Jacob.  We are often tempted to get ourselves together so that we can hear from God.  God wants to speak to us when we are humbly dependent; not prideful, independent and sufficient.

2.       God stoops—the man/angel/theophany that Jacob wrestles with is said to not be able to overcome Jacob, and yet Jacob knew He was God.  Clearly, this is akin to a father wrestling with his children, allowing them the mastery over him.  God meets us in a way that we can handle and gives us enough information for us move forward.  When a child asks the parent, “when will we get there?” the parent does not discuss the map, the traffic and the weather, but simply gives enough information to answer the question in the child’s mind.  God sees a much bigger picture and gives us enough information for us to wrestle with.

3.       God does not leave us the same—Jacob takes a new name—“Israel.”  Jacob knew himself to be a scoundrel, but now he is known as one who “strives and prevails.”  He has a new identity to build himself, his life and his family around.  For the rest of our lives, God will be continually at work to rebuild our identities as His children.

4.       God wounds—Though Jacob was able to strive with God and prevail, God clearly demonstrated His power by touching Jacob’s hip and leaving it wounded.  We often look at our wounds as solely evidence of the fall, but we do not receive a wound without the touch of God involved.  Some of these are quite painful and no explanation short of heaven will suffice.  Regardless, we can trust God, who allowed his son to be “wounded for our transgressions”, to wound us in such a way to draw us to Himself and to be used for His purposes. 

These are painful truths about God.  I like this God, who is close, involved and has Hs hands dirty in this world and my life than the distant, aloof God I am prone to believe.  He is real, He is true and He is there.

 

Posted by Marc