Ready to Wrestle...with God?

"So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak." Genesis 32:24

Ready to Wrestle...With God?
By Rev. William Dohle

My boys have come to the age I have dreaded now. Beyond the age of innocent crying. Through the age of getting into everything. They have reached the age of wrestling!

I wish it were not true. But just the other day I found them on the floor, wrestling around. One with the other's foot in his hand. The other with the other's arm. Both in the classic amateur wrestling pose that raises the octave parents speak two or three times.

I hear it's normal...especially for boys...for wrestling matches to occur between siblings. I hear it's something that happens in other households too.

But why? I mean...why wrestle? What do they hope to accomplish or achieve? What victory comes to the victor? Why get in that terrible position in the first place?

My boys haven't been able to answer the question...so I turned to the internet. There I found a poem titled: "Why Wrestle?" Here's what it had to say...

Wrestling prepares a person to fight the game of life.
The wrester is the one athlete that must meet his opponent and do battle completely on his own; No one can substitute, no time outs are possible.
He has no one to check, screen, block, or assist him in any way;
There is no one to blame for his mistakes. When he wins, he must show quiet pride and modesty. When he loses, the responsibility is his.
Wrestling is a true sport.
In other sports, when contact is made, they blow the whistle to stop the action;
In wrestling, when contact is made, we're just getting started.
No other sport requires more sacrifice then wrestling.
Individual, through self-denied, offers more of his character than can ever be explained.
Through every trial, test, and tribulation.

Wrestling, though, isn't confined to sports...or to little boys out to prove something to their siblings. Wrestling happens in faith too. There, in the ring of life, we face off against our opponent. An opponent that happens to be God!

We circle each other, much like Jacob circled God early that morning. And then we pounce.

"Why God? Why did that happen to me? What were you meaning for me to do or be?" we cry as we jump on God's back.

God doesn't respond.

"Why haven't you blessed me as I thought you should? Why are good times so fleeting and hard times so hard to get over?"

And God falls to the ground.

"And why haven't you done anything with all the trouble and violence and war and pain in the world? Why have you just sat back and watched it happen?"

And God's slips on the mat.

"If you planned all this...what sort of God are you that would plan to have so many terrible things occur? And if you didn't plan all this...when did you give up your power?"

And God is pinned.

But just as it seems like God is defeated...God touches the socket of our hip, reminding us of our mortality. Reminding us that we are his creations.

We wrestle more until daybreak, with neither side taking the advantage.

And thus we end the wrestling match...in a stale mate. With neither side winning.

That's how Jacob's wrestling match went that night. Neither he nor God prevailed. The Bible tells us: "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."(Gen. 32:25).

God wasn't winning the match...but neither would Jacob.

And so we come to our own stalemate with God, with neither of us winning against the other. Our accusations are valid. God doesn't deny them. But we are creatures in His Creation...a Creation we cannot possibly understand.

The wrestling match might end badly...until God reaches out across the circle, grabs us by the arm, gives us a big bear hug, and tells us "nice job!" Then he blesses us at daybreak and sends us on our way. Our faith...renewed. Our life...restored. We emerge from the wrestling match different people, changed and transformed by a God who is willing to lose in order to win us back.

So... what have you been wrestling with God over? And how's your match going?

God of daybreak, you come to us in the evenings of our lives as we sit, wrestling with our faith in you. Stay with us through the dark and the light that we might see your face in the Morning, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.