WATCHWORD:
24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Genesis 32:24-28
Meditation:
Wrestling with God
On August 21, 2002, I underwent surgery to replace my right hip. Then, a year later, my left hip was replaced. Hip problems, hip pain. You know, I have no recollection of wrestling with God, but nevertheless, the hips were a problem and had to be replaced. Nevertheless, I probably have been wrestling with God.
Maybe I don’t understand the concept of ‘wrestling with God’. I do know I struggle with my faith from time to time, hesitant to speak up or show others that I’m a Christian. There’s a tiny part of me that would rather pass by on the other side, then to kneel in the gravel to help someone in need. There are times during our worship services that my mind strays, or perhaps I have a reaction to the hymns we are asked to sing, or maybe yesterday’s conflict is still there on my mind, clouding God’s message.
In all honesty, I think you and I go through some of the same struggles, and in that sense, we do wrestle with the Lord. Maybe yours were called “this”, and mine were called “that”, but we felt the same struggle. In the Lord’s Commandment to us there were no “except this…or except that”, it was love without exception. Any time we struggle in our walk as Christians it is wrestling with God. We may look upon Peter’s story of denial and think that could never happen to me, Lord. Yet, we leave the worship service still churning inside with our conflict with friends, or neighbors, and our tendency not to reach out in love, and in doing so, we deny the Lord. To deny the Lord is to wrestle with God.
We read the Bible, and we try to understand incidents and stories and lessons that are presented there and try to fit them into our mind-set, our culture, our language, and maybe we struggle to understand fully what God was teaching. We try, and that’s a good start.
Recently, a member of our Bible study group made a statement that the Bible was God’s Word, it was complete, and nothing could be added to it. At the time I’m not sure why I felt conflicted by his statement, but now I think I know. Oh, I believe and I trust what my friend said, but… We struggle and are sometimes conflicted in our understanding of what God is saying to us. We apply our flawed and earth-bound human minds to the task, and it is at that point where I struggle. It’s not that the Bible isn’t perfect, complete, and finished. It is our understanding and application of His Word that is woefully lacking. What God has given us is so much more than we can grasp at any one time.
You and I are children of God. We have been chosen, we have been adopted, and we are divinely loved. We do not want to shed that mantle and go out on our own. We want to live by the Word of God. We believe that God touched us and declared His love for us. You are my brother or my sister in Christ, our role is to honor Him and to glorify Him as best we can within this earth-bound environment in which we live.
Someday these bodies are going to die but our spirit will live on. I want my spirit to truly honor and glorify God in all ways. How about you? Want to wrestle? Got hip pain?
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help us to be more aware of you and your guidance Lord. To be more attuned to the Holy Spirit. To open our eyes to see and our hearts to receive the love and direction you have given us. Give us a boldness to speak your word, to stand up as a follower of you and to extend your hand to heal and do miraculous things in your majestic name. May your Kingdom come. It’s in the name of Jesus that we offer these prayers. Amen.
