Remember the story in Genesis 32 where Jacob spends the night wrestling with God? What a fascinating story! I’ve always wondered what started this holy wrestling match. Did the Lord appear and Jacob started arguing with Him? Did he challenge God? Did he ask for something God refused to give him? Who jumped on whom first? And why? Surely God could just have said a word and Jacob would have been frozen in place or disabled. Why would the Lord spend an entire night wrestling with one of His creations? Absolutely fascinating.
Yet . . .
During your prayer time or Bible reading, have you ever felt as though you were wrestling? I have. Sometimes I feel as though I’m fighting my way through a massive wave crashing over my ship, or worse, my ship has capsized and I’m underwater and the sea is muddling my words to God and His to me. I realize most of that opposition is the Enemy, for in Ephesians 6, Paul tells us that we wrestle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
But what if during some of these moments, it isn’t the Enemy, but God who is wrestling with us as He did with Jacob? He’s not answering. He’s not blessing us. He’s opposing us. But why? I contend that it’s for the same reason He wrestled with Jacob: to find out just how serious we are about our walk with Him. If our prayers aren’t answered right away or if we feel Heaven is silent, are we just going to walk away? Or is God important enough to us that we will persevere, sacrifice even to point of pain, just to know Him, to win His favor?
For Jacob, to know God and receive His blessing meant everything. We already know he held God’s birthright in high esteem because he tricked his elder brother into giving it to him at the cost of his life. Now, here in Genesis 32, Jacob loses a night’s sleep, exerts himself to the fullest of his strength, and even after he is injured, he is not willing to let go of God until he receives all God came to give him.
This is why God chose Jacob over Esau, and this is why we see his story written for so many generations to read.
How about you? Where is your heart? How much are you willing to sacrifice; how hard are you willing to struggle? How important is knowing God and receiving His favor to you? Are you willing to go through the storm to reach the horizon?
Don’t let go of God, our anchor in the storm.
MaryLu Tyndall