Wrestling with God

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Wrestling is a sport that involves grappling with an opponent while trying to obtain a position of advantage using different methods or techniques. Surprisingly, it is a wrestling match that the Lord often uses to become our portal into faith. Jacob’s wrestling experience described in Genesis 32 can be used to shape our view of God and His blessings.  There are times when God only releases His blessings on us after a season of prolonged and sometimes painful wrestling with Him.

            In Genesis 32, Jacob is returning to His place of birth with his small tribe of wives and children after twenty years away and is mustering courage to reunite with Esau, the brother whose life he damaged through deceit and manipulation. Jacob is quite frightened because his estranged brother, Esau, is coming to meet him with four hundred men. Jacob doesn’t regard this as a welcome party! It appears to be quite an army, which terrifies him! So Jacob splits up His household into two camps and sends them all ahead of him, to try and avoid complete annihilation. Jacob, restless and unable to sleep, is left to spend the night alone — no doubt in desperate prayer. On this lonely night, he can’t hide behind his vast wealth, his many servants, or his large and complicated family… they’re all gone. He is alone in the dark in a desolate place…until he’s not. Until a nameless, stranger leaps out of nowhere, throws him to the ground and proceeds to wrestle Jacob until daybreak. At some point during this strange contest Jacob realizes that he is wrestling with God. Now that’s quite a revelation! Then amazingly, when God decides it’s time to end the match, he dislocates Jacob’s hip and demands to be released. Jacob, in significant pain, replies, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26). This response evidently pleases God, who pronounces this blessing on Jacob: “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob (deceiver), but Israel (struggles with God), for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28). That next morning Jacob then limps toward his tense reunion with Esau with a weakened body and a strengthened faith. Having wrestled with God, he knows his prayers regarding Esau will be answered. 

            This story may resonate with you as it does me. Have you ever found yourself alone in the dark in a desolate place?  How often, in that menacing darkness, have you done solitary battle with something you don’t recognize as God until much, much later? It is in relationship with God and in His all-encompassing presence that we fight the fights that bend, break, and remake us.  It is in God’s company that we face down our personal demons.  It is God alone who brings us to the ragged edges of our own strength so that finally, finally, we’ll surrender (a death of self), and allow ourselves to be transformed.  

            Take note of what God did when he wrestled Jacob. Jacob began the night dreading Esau’s arrival. He was full of fear and desperation. But he ended the night of struggle with God’s blessing and a renewed faith. All of our struggling with God in faith leads to rest, resting in Him that is. And isn’t it interesting that God did not simply speak to Jacob in a dream or vision as he had at other times and reiterate His promise with comforting words? This time God addressed Jacob’s fear by requiring him to wrestle all night. This probably felt to Jacob like a badly timed hassle when he just wanted comfort and assurance. However, later he realized just how comforting it was. Sometimes when we want God’s comfort, he sends it in unexpected and even unwanted packages. Surprisingly, God afflicted Jacob with an injury. This had the effect of making Jacob even more vulnerable to Esau, forcing Jacob’s faith to more fully rest on God and not himself. Evidently, from Jacob’s story, we learn that, if necessary, God will even cause us to limp to increase our faith.

Furthermore, wrestling with God changed Jacob’s identity. He was no longer to be known as one who received his blessing by deception. He was renamed Israel and received God’s blessing by prevailing with God by faith. This struggle turned out to be a profoundly gracious gift of restoration that God gave Jacob. Jacob’s tenacious faith pleased God and he rewarded Jacob’s request (Hebrews 11:6). When God calls us to wrestle with Him, there’s always more going on than we first understand and God always uses it to transform us for good. Jacob wasn’t the only person in Scripture to wrestle with God. David wrestled (1 Chronicles 13:11). Jesus wrestled (Matthew 26:39). These moments of personal struggle with God’s will are grounded in genuine relationship. That’s the kind of relationship God wants with us: one in which we learn (through experience) to trust his character, even when we struggle to understand and accept some of His choices. Wrestling with God is a matter of reaching out to Him as He is. It requires embracing his vastness and unpredictability. It may be kind of scary, but it’s the foundation for deep levels of trust in a faithful Father who is trustworthy even when we don’t understand.

            When God makes us wrestle Him for blessing, it is not because God is reluctant to bless us, even if that’s how it first feels. It is because he has more blessings for us in the wrestling than without it. Remember, God was the initiator and pursued Jacob for this match. Jacob was grappling in his own anxiety over Esau and his approaching army when God showed up. The wrestling drew Jacob out of his fearful preoccupation and forced him to focus on God. I doubt that Jacob wanted this forced focus or even believed he needed it at first. It wouldn’t surprise me if at the beginning Jacob had prayed as I might have, “God, would you get rid of this guy? This is the last thing I need right now.” But what he discovered was that the wrestling was a means of God’s grace, a channel for God’s blessing on Him. 

            So my friends, what is it you really need from God right now? What blessing do you want from Him and how badly do you want it? What I carry away from the story of Jacob’s wounding is the troubling, but solid truth, that blessing and bruising are not mutually exclusive in the realm of God.  We can limp and prevail at the same time.  I can’t dictate the terms of blessing.  I can’t say, “I want the blessing but not the limp.”  Sometimes, the blessing is the limp.  As dawn breaks, the stranger asks Jacob to disengage, and Jacob, tenacious as ever, says no: “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”  I love this line. I want to make it my life’s stance, because it assures me that sometimes, “winning” involves nothing more than not giving up.  Sometimes, the spiritual life is about little more than hanging on for dear life to a God who appears mysterious, bewildering, and a bit frightening.  Sometimes the whole of Christianity comes down to saying, “There’s so much I can’t wrap my head around, but I know there’s a blessing in this mess somewhere and I’m going to hang on until I find it.” God will meet you in your anguish, fear, and uncertainty. But He may not meet you in the way you expect or desire. Your greatest ally may show up looking at first like your adversary, inciting you to wrestle with him. If so, remember Jacob. There are multiple blessings in the wrestling. So when God calls you to wrestle with Him in prayer, it is an invitation to receive His blessing. Stay with Him and don’t give up.  He loves to bless that kind of tenacious faith and you will come out transformed. My friends, don’t let God go until He blesses you! Keep wrestling!

Bricks & Living Stones

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A few days ago I was reading a description of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) during my morning prayer time. Following the Great Flood, Noah’s descendants, who all spoke the same language, began to build a tower as an act of rebellion against God. Genesis 11: 1-4 states:

“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

3 They said to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’”

In Verse 3, “brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar” stood out to me and I kept hearing it over and over in my mind, so much so, that I wrote it in my journal and began to question why? At first thought do you think the Tower of Babel could be construed as a symbol of secular society?  I certainly do. By “secular society” I mean a world that sets itself in arrogant opposition to the will of God.  The verse above states that the Tower of Babel was constructed of bricks.  Bricks? Really? It seems too long ago for that? I started thinking about the characteristics of bricks and how they might apply to this God story.  First of all, they are unnatural and artificial.  You won’t find a brick occurring in nature. They are man-made. Secondly, they are identical and uniform.  It’s not easy to distinguish one brick from another.  Thirdly, they are functionally undifferentiated and interchangeable. A brick can serve equally well anywhere in a wall.  And finally, in a sense, they are all but worthless.  What if you do lose a brick, aren’t there hundreds more just like it? Think of the Israelites as slaves in Egypt. The death and loss of one slave was of no account to the Egyptians. After all, that one slave was simply replaced by another. What could be more unnatural and artificial than a society that rejects God?  In such a state, citizens are made to conform to uniform standards thus losing their individuality. Their work is reduced to interchangeable roles.  And, because they have lost all their uniqueness, they become utterly worthless.

In opposition to the Tower of Babel,  “If then any man is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and furthermore, 1 Peter 2:4-5 states “As you come to him (Christ), the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house (church as body of Christ) to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

 The Tower of Babel, was being built of bricks, a man-made construction, where rebellious people were attempting to reach the heavens to be like God, to “make a name for themselves”. Yet, Jesus made a new creation, the Church (the body of Christ), a temple built of living stones. Living stones have distinguishable characteristics:  First, living stones are not just natural, but supernatural. What could be more supernatural than a society in which Christ dwells? Secondly, they are utterly unique.  No two are exactly alike. In the eyes of Jesus, every human being is utterly unique and unrepeatable.  After all, what two human beings are exactly alike?  Thirdly, they are irreplaceable. A stone that occupies a particular place in a wall can fit nowhere else but in that unique space. In the Church, every person is irreplaceable, because each one of us has a mission no one else can fulfill. We have unique gifting and purposes that only God defines. And finally, living stones are extremely precious. “You are precious in my (God’s) sight and honored, and I love you.” (Isaiah 43:4) To Christ every human being is precious, because every one of us is made in the image and likeness of God.  Each one of us, therefore, has infinite value.

            So my friends, which would you rather be… a brick in secular society or a living stone in the body of Christ, His church?  As a brick, we would ultimately lose our identity.  As a living stone, we can become all, through Christ, that we are meant to be.  C.S. Lewis puts it this way when referring to the plan of God’s people: “God sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of us.  When He talks of us losing ourselves, He means only abandoning the clamor of self-will; once we have done that, He really gives us back all our personality, and boasts…that when we are wholly His, we will be more ourselves than ever.  [Letter XIII]

            In a secular society, men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, are able to be exchanged with each other without making any difference or without being noticed. They are interchangeable. Only in such a society can same-sex marriage and multiple genders be even remotely considered as possibilities.  In God’s Church, men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, are irreplaceable. In fact marriage, as anything other than one man and one woman for life, is inconceivable.

            So there you have it… Unnatural bricks versus supernatural stones? Secular society versus the Kingdom of God? Man-made bricks or living stones? Just think for a minute! Jesus was totally unique and definitely distinctive. There aren’t enough words to describe Him. He said and did things that no one before Him and no one after Him has ever said or done. He was completely different from all other religious leaders before or after Him.  He was born of a virgin, He turned water into wine, He healed the sick, He raised the dead, He walked on the water, He fed 5,000 people with a few loaves and fish, He stilled storms, He died on Calvary, He rose from the dead! He ascended to the right hand of God. Jesus was the greatest of all living Stones (1Peter 2:4). As the Psalm says, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone” (Ps. 118:22) As believers we are the living stones, made alive in the Lord Jesus and through Him built up as a spiritual house. Today no longer do we need a temple of physical stones. We are the living temple, united in Christ Jesus!

Rooted in Grace

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This month our church has been in the midst of fasting and praying for 21 days as we begin the New Year 2024. A fast is a way of expressing a greater need beyond ourselves, our need of God and greater intimacy with Him. There is so much more I could say on the subject, but essentially, it’s a surrender, a renewal, a relinquishing of self, and a pressing in to the very heart of God. During a fast there comes a moment when you have to come clean with God…A moment when you need to unveil your secrets, struggles, and sins… 

A moment when you need to fall full weight on the grace of God.

During my prayer time, I’ve asked the lord repeatedly what is an attribute of God that he would like to have me focus on and grow in this year? Matthew 11:28-29 says: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you will find rest for your soul”. I want so much to learn of Him. So, in response, I began to notice Him speaking to me each day of His bountiful “Grace.” Praise God for abundant grace! I have so many questions that I’m asking Him and little by little answers are unfolding.

Sunday at church our pastor spoke on the familiar story of David and Goliath. Even though it’s a well-known story, I’m always amazed by the layers of treasure-filled wisdom hidden in God’s holy word, layers upon layers. I’ve always thought of David as such a strong, mighty, powerful man of God. Yes, I know he sinned greatly with Bathsheba, it’s true. However, as believers why do we sometimes believe or act as though our sin disqualifies us or others from the grace of God? According to Romans 5:15:

 “If many died through one man’s trespass, how much more did God’s grace and the free gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.” 

So, therefore, grace is that quality in God that produces free gifts for guilty sinners. 

And according to Romans 11:5-6, you can’t work to earn grace. It is free and undeserved. 

“At the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.”

None of us would be saved if grace was not undeserved favor.

So back to David’s story…Over the years, I’ve grown to really appreciate David. I know that he has his clear failures, and yet he is such a compelling and genuinely good king and man. I think of him as the shepherd who became king and “the sweet psalmist of Israel”. 

(2 Samuel 23:1). I think of him as a young warrior, who fought, lions, bears and a 

9-foot 6-inch giant. And this young boy was even strong enough to draw Goliath’s massive sword from its sheath and cut through his giant neck to take off his head! That seems unfathomable! 

In 2 Samuel 17, we see David’s son Absalom rebel against his father, march on Jerusalem, and send David retreating. David’s loyal friend Hushai characterizes David to Absalom:

“You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war.” (2 Sam. 17:8) 

Not just his men, but David himself is mighty — and David in particular is expert in war.

In fact, the first time Scripture speaks of David, even before the Goliath account, he is introduced by one of Saul’s servants not only as “skillful in playing” but as “a man of valor, a man of war” and “a man of good presence.”

“Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” (1 Samuel 16:18)

Eventually, in celebration of David’s many feats we read of women dancing in the streets, singing of the strength they see in David: “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands”. David grows up to be a fierce warrior and Saul sets David over the men of war. Then in order to win Saul’s daughter as his bride, David brings the king two hundred Philistine foreskins. Even later we hear of David leading thirty thousand warriors in battle and being victorious wherever he goes (2 Sam. 8:6). At the end of his life, the reason God gives as to why David will not be the one to build the temple is that he is “a man of war.” The Bible further describes him in 2 Samuel 22 He “can run against a troop,” and “leap over a wall” (verse 29).

He writes that God “equipped me with strength” (verse 32) and “made my feet like the feet of a deer” (verse 33). God “trained my hands for war,” he adds, making his arms strong enough to “bend a bow of bronze” (verse 34). To be sure, an amazing physical specimen, a fierce warrior, an all-around mighty man is king David!

Yet, as David celebrates God’s good provision of physical, prowess, David makes a striking claim in verse 35. To me this takes David’s manhood to a brand-new level, and surpasses the glory of slaying a giant in his youth. He says to God in 2 Sam..22:36, “Your gentleness made me great. Did you hear that? He’s telling God, “Your gentleness made me great.”

David is saying physical manifestations are not what made him great. He is saying it was God’s gentleness that made David great. What does it mean that God’s gentleness made him great? We might understand this in two ways. One, God had been gentle with David. David had flaws, many failures and sins. God could have rejected him and cut him off from the throne at any point. Yet God was gentle with him; he was gracious with him. And what’s more, David recognized the fact. Ladies, I’m talking “Grace” of God. Gentleness is graciousness. Gentleness is “Grace.” David did not deserve it, but God was gentle with him. Actually, I think David is saying even more here. Not only had the omnipotent God been gentle with David, but God’s own gentleness with David had changed David. God’s own grace had come to take root in David’s heart and characterize his own life and leadership. I’m suggesting that when David grew in His relationship with God and came to the throne and wielded kingdom power, he did so with gentleness. He did so with “Grace.” In humility and gentleness, David chooses to let Saul go free, even though he could have seized the kingdom from Saul. Even after Saul’s death, David takes initiative to show kindness and gentleness to make provision for the house of Saul. In fact, there are many more instances where David demonstrated gentleness and grace.

The greatness of David is not that he slew the giant Goliath. 

The greatness of David is that as a man he slew the giants in his own warrior’s heart: arrogance and pride, selfishness, unrighteous anger, petty disputes, personal offenses, and luxuries. David was a great king, and the type of the Anointed One to come. He was a man who was not weak, but strong, brave, kind, patient, and gentle. David, having learned from God’s own gentleness with him, learned how and when to be gentle with others. Rooted in grace is greatness!

1.”For by grace our children and grandchildren have been saved through faith. And this is not their own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8–9

2.”But he said to our children, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9–10

3.”For sin will have no dominion over our children, since they are not under law but under grace.”Rom.6:14