Wrestling With God

Intro

I use to love WWE when I was a kid. In fact I wanted to be a pro wrestler.

My 10th Bday Party I dressed up as John Cena.

(Joke) When I arrived everyone asked, “Has anyone seen Josh?”

The cool thing about wrestling is that it’s entirely fake, but the pros can make it look real.

I remember when youth had wrestling on, the guys were terrible… Their punches were nowhere near hitting their opponent…

The truth is life can be like one big wrestling match.

There’s times we go through things that we wrestle with:

Finances, career, health, relationships, God’s word (I’m finding it hard to reconcile the meaning of this scripture), prophetic word, mental health, past events, hurt, trauma, etc.

These factors that we wrestle with can also cause us to wrestle with God Himself or can influence us to walk away from Him.

Jacob Wrestled With God

English Standard Version Chapter 32

24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

Jacob’s name is replaced with Israel, meaning “God fights”.

(Although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”).

The name “Israel” was a promise and a call for faith.

For the Isrealites, the name Israel would evoke the memory of this fight and what it meant; it would remind them that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man.

Our wrestle with God is part of our faith.

I believe God puts us in situations that provokes a faith response.

Jacob wrestled with God until the breaking of day. Greater than a 5-minute tussle.

Jacob refused to let go until the Lord blessed Him.

How often have we let go because that blessing we were believing for didn’t happen in our timing?

There’s No Success Without Suffering

The NET Bible First Edition Notes Notes for 32:28

To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency

I’d much rather wrestle with God than walk away from Him

Because at least when I wrestle with God I’m still hanging onto Him.

I’m still in His presence.