Wrestling With God

Wrestling with God

This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Genesis 32:24-26

Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him.

Hosea 12:4

How does someone win a wrestling match? The winner is usually the one who overpowers the other, pinning him to the mat. But Genesis tells us about a wrestling match between Jacob and God that Jacob won—not by pinning his opponent on the ground but by his desperate desire for God.

Jacob was at the end of his rope. That’s when a man came and began a wrestling match that lasted all night. Finally, the man touched Jacob’s hip and threw his leg out, and Jacob recognized that the man was actually God. That’s when Jacob prayed one of the greatest prayers in the Bible: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Many people talk about wrestling with God when really they’re talking about rebelling against God. But we don’t wrestle with God to argue with him or to make him prove himself to us. Wrestling with God is not about pinning God down. It’s about experiencing his power and enjoying his presence. Redemptive wrestling with God is when we can’t bear to think about living without his blessing in our lives, when we value his blessing so much it is worth fighting for. It’s going hard after him, longing for his will and his glory and his blessing upon us, so that we are living proof of what God can do with people who are at the end of themselves.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

In what way did Jacob “win” the wrestling match?

Why do you think God purposely left Jacob with a limp?

In what ways might we need to “fight” to enjoy God’s blessing?