Wrestling with God

Jacob Wrestling the Angel - Léon Bonnat

Jacob was no angel, but he wrestled one.

In the course of the night, Jacob arose, took his two wives, children and servants and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had taken them across the stream and had brought over all his possessions, Jacob was left there alone.

Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled. The man then said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me." "What is your name?" the man asked. He answered, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed."

Jacob named the place Peniel, "Because I have seen God face to face," he said, "yet my life has been spared."

At sunrise, as he left Peniel, Jacob limped along because of his hip.

- Genesis 32 .

Some say Jacob wrestled with an angel, some that he wrestled with God. The scripture tells us he "contended with divine and human beings" and prevailed. It's also suggested that the wrestling here is Flesh Vs. Spirit in Jacob's heart.

Whoever are the opponents here, we know several things for sure. Jacob was no angel. His name in Hebrew means "trickster" and indeed he had cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright. Even here in Genesis 32, Jacob is hustling off in the dark of night to escape his brother's advance on him and it's then that the wrestling event ensues.

What kind of spiritual wrestling do we engage in?

Angels are God's messengers: how do we wrestle with God's messages to us? in his word? in our conscience?

Do we try wrestle with God himself? Does something within prod us to square off with God, hoping him pin him with our hurt or anger?

Or is it the struggle between the flesh and spirit that provides the mat on which we wrestle with choices and consequences?

The good news in the Jacob story is that God seems to respect our wrestling and that we can survive our match with the Divine. We survive not because we are the superior contestant but rather because God calls the match before we suffer defeat. I like the Bonnat study above because for all of Jacob's muscular strength, the angel is clearly larger, stronger, overpowering and just about to pull Jacob's right leg from under him. We do not escape unscathed when we go up against God. His hold leaves its mark on us or, as in the case of Jacob's hip, deep within us.

Many of us wrestle with issues human and spiritual. Some of us may be in the first period of the match and some of us may be limping away from the mat! Our divine opponent allows and respects our struggle and although greater than stronger than us will never take advantage of our lesser strength. In a wrestling match one learns about one's own strengths and weaknesses and about one's opponent. In the wrestling here, there is much to learn and nothing to lose.