So Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak. (Genesis 32:24)
Jacob’s opponent was an angel representing God himself. Some people wrestle with God their entire lives. I’m one of them.
“It is not wise to resist the Almighty,” our mothers tell us.
Bless you if you are made that way, and can run straight to submission–we must all get there. I can’t seem to do it without a fight.
As Jacob’s account continues, we learn the fight was rigged. The angel held back supernatural power until morning. In a sacred moment, he put Jacob’s hip out of joint, then spoke a blessing over him. Jacob needed to be tenderized before he would receive his anointing–so God allowed him to wrestle.
A cord passes from this Old Testament event, through the intervening pages, to a passage in the New Testament. “… continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort - for the sake of his good pleasure - is God.” (Phil. 2:12, 13).
My salvation is not a thing accomplished, from which I skip away, clapping the dust from my hands. I must labor at even the small bit of sticking to my acceptance of his gift. Yet, God is in the ring, wrestling, not against me, but for me to accomplish the salvation he desires. He is so bighearted he allows me to think I’m fighting him when, really, I’m fighting me. I’m up against my own fleshly nature, needing victory over temporal distractions.
God eggs me into this wild, holy ruckus, and I can’t resist. I jump into the fray, bloody my nose, laugh, and, once I’m fully tenderized, beg for God’s blessing. He is happy to bestow a peace over me that is sweeter for the tussle.
God doesn’t mind that I’m a fighter.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for letting me wrestle and win in surrender to you.