Wrestling with God

Genesis 32:22-32

         On what shall I concentrate my efforts on today? This reading is so rich and begs for commentary as well as contextual clarifications. Should it be something about the two wives? What of this man Jacob has been wrestling with?  How about the fact you are not supposed to eat the thigh muscle because it was Jacob's hip socket at the thigh muscle that was struck in this story. That seems absurd. It would also seem absurd to use this is a biblical sanction of polygamy even though it is here as plain as day in Scripture. No, lets speak of wrestling.

           Aside from professional wrestling or wrestling in high school, do we wrestle with others? Do we wrestle with God?

           I believe this is a story about wrestling with God. If, as we believe, that the Bible is really a sort of love story of God and His people, wrestling certainly would be part of the mix. No one in any relationship always agrees. So, perhaps not a physical wrestling but certainly mental, emotional and spiritual. How do we come to terms with God who is so far above us in every conceivable way and yet he loves each one of us. He cares for us, loves us, cherishes us. He tries to guide us in his ways of love. Sometimes we don't get it. Sometimes our idea of love and forgiveness does not match up to God's and so we wrestle with Him. We wrestle when we do not understand and want to. We wrestle with God about forgiveness when we don't feel worthy of it. Or we don't think someone else is worthy of it. If we have a real relationship with God, we can wrestle, we can question, we can discuss and maybe even be a bit angry when things don't go the way we think they should go. 

          I think that even when we mentally of verbally wrestle with other people, we are still wrestling with God and the way we perceive God to be. We argue our own position against someone else's and yet there may be a third position, or a fourth and perhaps we come to realize God's position.

          I say cheers, here's to good wresting!

        

            

The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.