Faith that Wrestles with God

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” ().

Genesis 32:22–30 ESV

22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 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.” 29 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. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

2 Timothy 3:14–4:5 ESV

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” ().

English Standard Version Chapter 18

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? zWill he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” ().

Luke 18:8 ESV

8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Will He find the faith that wrestles with Him?

It’s quite a statement, isn’t it? “Yes, God will bring justice, just as He has promised. And no, He will not delay even one fraction of a second longer than is proper and necessary to bring about His plan of salvation. In other words, “I’m not the problem.” If you’re looking for the problem here, maybe it’s time to look in the mirror. “When I come back, will I find faith on the earth?”

I have to admit, this little parable is far more convicting than I had ever given it credit for. It’s a simple story. It even has a happy ending: The dear, old widow who desperately needs a wicked— perhaps corrupt— judge to rule in her favor and finally wins him over through sheer persistence. Aside from the length, it would be a perfectly good Hallmark movie.

this little parable is far more convicting than I had ever given it credit for. It sounds rather anodyne. It even has a happy ending: The dear, old widow who desperately needs a wicked— perhaps corrupt— judge to rule in her favor and finally wins him over through sheer persistence. Aside from the length, it would be a perfectly good Hallmark movie.

Except Jesus’ words really do have a sharp edge to them here, don’t they? He’s turning our own question back on us. It’s as if He said, “Really? You are so worried, so troubled by the evil and the injustice that happens on earth? You’re so bothered by it that you do what, exactly?

“I’ll tell you what you do. You like to complain right and left, ‘How could God allow this to go on?’ and ‘Why doesn’t He do something about it?’ What don’t you do? What you don’t do is actually come to me— I mean persistently coming to me— pleading to make things right.

It’s as if He said, “Really? You are so worried, so troubled by the evil and the injustice that happens on earth? You’re so bothered by it that you do what, exactly? I’ll tell you what you do. You like to complain right and left, ‘How could God allow this to go on?’ and ‘Why doesn’t He do something about it?’ What don’t you do? Actually come to me, persistently about them. If you’re so bothered by them, why aren’t you on your knees night and day pleading for me to bring justice?”

You like to complain right and left, ‘How could God allow this to go on?’ and ‘Why doesn’t He do something about it?’ What don’t you do? Actually come to me, persistently about them.

If you’re so bothered by the evil and injustice in this world, why aren’t you on your knees night and day pleading for me to bring justice?”

“Hear what the unrighteous judge says,” Jesus concludes. Hear what he says because his words convict you and me. If the widow was able to get him to cave in and do what was right and just, “will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” Or do you think that God is worse than this wicked— possibly corrupt— judge that you don’t even ask— certainly not compared to the widow.

You seem to think less of God than that widow thought of this judge.

She, at least, thought that he could be won over by persistence. Even if he didn’t care about her or about any sort of principles of right and wrong, she showed the he could at least be persuaded if she was persistent enough. What does it say about the way you look at God that you don’t even try to win Him over by your persistence? It suggests that you don’t think He really cares. In fact, it suggests that you think He is far more evil than that judge, that He actually gets some kind of satisfaction from not only allowing evil to happen but from watching you keep coming to Him asking to make it right.

Or do you just not really believe in Him at all?

Is that why you can’t be bothered to cry to Him day and night?

There really aren’t any other possibilities, except, perhaps, that you really don’t care about the evil and injustice in this world.

In one, simple, little parable about a persistent widow, Jesus turns our complaint back on us.

Oh yes, God will come and will give justice to His elect. He will deal with the evil and injustice in this world. But will He find faith on earth?

Yes, God will come and will give justice to His elect. He will deal with the evil and injustice in this world. The real question is: When He comes will He find faith?

How is that for a question to leave us on? Have any of us not complained about the evil in this world? Have any not wondered out loud why God would permit things to continue? And yet, do we even think enough of Him to treat Him like the widow treated the unrighteous judge?

If that doesn’t convict you, I don’t know what would.

If that doesn’t convict you, I don’t know what would.

The real beauty of this parable is that, at the same time, He does not leave us wondering what the answer will be.

Will He find the faith that wrestles with Him?

God is not like that unrighteous judge.

God is not like that unrighteous judge.

Spoiler alert: in the meantime, He isn’t sitting back to wonder what He will find. He makes sure He will find faith on earth by coming to fight with you.

God is not like that unrighteous judge.

You don’t need to wait until the Son of Man returns to know if He will find faith on earth. He isn’t.

God isn’t sitting back and wondering what He might find on that day. He makes sure He will find faith on earth by coming to fight with you.

Yes, you heard me right. He makes sure He will find faith on earth by coming to fight with you. If you can’t be bothered to pursue Him like the widow pursued her unrighteous judge then, by God, He will fight for you!

He will have you, even if it means taking on human form and coming and physically wrestling with you.

He will have you, even if it means taking on human form and coming and physically wrestling with you.

Our Old Testament reading— Jacob wrestling with God— is an odd story, isn’t it? What is going on there? God being matched by a mere mortal? What is going on?

God being matched by a mere mortal?

Who would bother believing in a God who could be matched by a mere mortal?

Who would bother believing in a God who could be matched by a mere mortal?

And the way that Jacob contends with God is odd. In our day, we do like to imagine contending with the gods. We imagine the greatest of us— like Tony Stark, for example— taking on godlike beings using the cutting edge technology and an intellect that few can match. But wrestling with God like Jacob? This is not humanity exalting itself to near god-like status. This is God bringing Himself down to our level. This is a father playing with His toddler and choosing to use only a fraction of his strength.

But wrestling with God like Jacob? This is not humanity exalting itself to near god-like status. This is God bringing Himself down to our level. This is a father playing with His toddler and choosing to use only a fraction of his strength.

It is absurd. And yet that is your God 1000%, isn’t it?

Not only did God allow Himself to be matched by Jacob, He made Himself a helpless infant, completely dependent upon His mother. He put Himself under the authority of a human mother and father. If wrestling with Jacob was absurd, what is that?

He takes on human flesh and human weakness for the purpose of contending with man. In fact, He did it so that He could be overcome.

He allowed Himself to be arrested, bound, blindfolded, beaten— for you.

He did it so that He could be arrested, bound, blindfolded, beaten— for you.

If wrestling with Jacob was absurd, what could we possibly call seeing Him bound, blindfolded, and beaten?

Not only did God allow Himself to be matched by Jacob, He allowed Himself to be arrested, bound, blindfolded, beaten— for you.

And yet He did it so that He could fight with you. He did it so that He could be overcome. He did it so that He could be arrested, bound, blindfolded, beaten— for you.

What could we call seeing Him lifted up on the cross?

What could we call seeing God die there, nailed to a piece of wood?

What would we say at His lifeless body being laid in the tomb for three days and three nights?

He will have you, even if it means setting aside His power and strength and glory and majesty in order to physically contend with you from sunset to sunrise.

He will have you, even if it means setting aside His power and strength and glory and majesty in order to physically contend with you from sunset to sunrise. He will have you, even if it means being lifted up on a cross while the sun hides its face, leaving the world in darkness. He will have you, even if it means His lifeless body being laid in the tomb for three days and three nights.

He will have you, even if it means His lifeless body being laid in the tomb for three days and three nights.

It is absurd to see God wrestling with Jacob. But that is your God 1000%.

Because He is not only fighting with you, He fights for you.

He took on human flesh for the purpose of being able to take the whip and the thorns and the nails. Because, by doing so, “He has borne [y]our griefs and carried [y]our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for [y]our transgressions; he was crushed for [y]our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought [you] peace, and with his wounds [you] are healed” ().

“He has borne [y]our griefs and carried [y]our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for [y]our transgressions; he was crushed for [y]our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought [you] peace, and with his wounds [you] are healed” ().

“He suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (). “He was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power fo God” ().

He suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit ().

He made Himself a helpless infant, He was arrested, bound, blindfolded, and beaten so that He could fight for you. He took up a cross in order to bear your sin and weakness, to destroy the power of the devil over you. He allowed His blood to be shed, allowed His body to be laid in the tomb for three days and three nights in order to defeat even death itself, for you.

He took up a cross in order to bear your sin and weakness.

“He was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power fo God” ().

He allowed His blood to be shed, allowed His body to be laid in the tomb for three days and three nights in order to defeat even death itself, for you.

What could we call seeing God die there, nailed to a piece of wood?

What would we say at His lifeless body being laid in the tomb for three days and three nights?

In the process, He has done what you could never have done: He has put to death your sin and weakness.

[You] were buried... with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, [you] too might walk in newness of life” (). You have been united with Him in a death like His (). Your “old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that [you] would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin [and you] have died with Christ...” ().

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

2 Corinthians 13:3–4 ESV

3 since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

And on the day when your life in this world is ended and your body is laid in the grave, it will be with the confidence in Jesus Christ that “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” ().

In Jesus Christ, God invites you to fight with Him.

There is certainly ample reason in this life to wonder why God doesn’t intervene, why He permits the evil and injustice that runs rampant. In fact, as Christians, that question takes on added urgency because you and I see not only the evil out there but the evil within ourselves. Our cry takes on a slightly different shape.

You cry out to God to put an end to the injustice out there and also the sin within your own heart.

And He does, He invites you to keep bothering Him, He invites you to beat Him down by your continual coming and pleading for justice— in the confidence that God will give justice to His elect who cry to Him day and night. He will not delay long over you. He will give you justice speedily.

1 Corinthians 15:42–44 ESV

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

He, Himself, contends with God for you. Perhaps the Great Lamentation of the scriptures is :

Psalm 22:1–31 ESV

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” 9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. 10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! 22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. 25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. 26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. 30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

Picture 1: Wrestling with God?

Really? Wrestling with God? What’s going on?

Who would bother believing in a God who could be matched by a mere mortal?

Who would bother believing in a God who could be matched by a mere mortal?

We imagine the greatest of us— like Tony Stark, for example— taking on godlike beings using the cutting edge technology and an intellect that few can match. But wrestling with God like Jacob?

Not only did God allow Himself to be matched by Jacob, He allowed Himself to be arrested, bound, blindfolded, beaten— for you.

Most importantly, in the confidence that, in Christ, He will find faith in you.

{cf The samaritan woman who “trapped” Jesus in His words…}

Illustration

And yet, He has delivered you from the devil, the World, and your sinful flesh

Argument: from lesser to greater. If the widow was able to Challenge: God does, at times, seem even slower with His justice than that wicked judge.

Challenge: God does, at times, seem even slower with His justice than that wicked judge.

Comforting Pictures

Because our enemies seem so powerful and in control of your circumstances.

And yet, He has delivered you from the devil, the World, and your sinful flesh

Because He does, at times, seem even slower with His justice than that wicked judge.

And yet, He is more eager for your good than you are.