We can often tend to think that wrestling is a bad thing, especially when it comes to our relationship with God. So often we think the right thing to do is to just submit and bow the knee out of reverence and awe of who He is. It therefore can feel almost blasphemous to “wrestle”in our thoughts with God. After all doesn’t the scripture say that we should submit to Him and be humble.
James 4:7-10 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
As with many things in scripture and with God, there is always two sides to the coin. As I have journeyed my own difficult path for the last 2.5 years, I have to admit that the wrestling over our situation and with God has become more intense.
The first few hours and days after our son’s accident we had no fight, we could do nothing else but rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I remember Lindsay saying to me in the police car on the way to Addenbrookes Hospital ‘If God takes Nathanael’s life then so be it…..’ . There was no questioning, why or what or anything, just acceptance.
As time has moved on, the questions, the doubting, the raw honesty with God has become more and more apparent. Many, (especially Christians) would see this as a weakness.
I’ve come to see from scripture and experience that this is far from weak. I would say that those who never wrestle with God and His Word are missing a key ingredient in their relationship with Him. Someone puts it this way, “Wrestling with God is a sign of intimacy. You can’t wrestle with someone you’re far away from”.
God, I believe, invites us into a relationship through His Son that is not just one sided. We don’t just accept everything that comes our way as if it is from the hand of God for our good and for our character development. There are many ways in which we can wrestle with God. Let’s look briefly at Abraham.
Abraham wrestles with God when He is about to destroy Sodom. I love the way Abraham’s posture changes in Genesis 18:22-23 “And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
Abraham stepped forward and said…”
One minute he is standing before the Lord, the next minute he steps forward. He wants to do business with the Lord. He wants to bargain with God if you like.
He begins “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are 50? What if there are 45? 40? 30? 20? 10?”
In our wrestling with the Creator of the universe, with the One who is holy holy holy, we know and admit who we are. Look at what Abraham says…
v.27 “Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.” In comparison to God we are but dust and ashes. He is the eternal, self existing One. We are made from the dust.
This does not stop us however coming to the place of questioning. To debating. To searching for an answer. God indeed invites us to do that and to reason.
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. NIV
“Come now, let us reason together”, ESV
Throughout scripture there are many examples of people who would not let go of God during times of trouble. They would not give up pursuing God and questioning what was going on in their lives and the situation around them. They are people who had, chutzpah, to use a Hebrew term. To use more familiar terms, they had audacity, cheek, nerve, boldness, guts.
Whatever you’re going through right now, God is ok with you approaching Him with chutzpah. There’s a time for chutzpah and there’s a time for submission. The realisation for me is that life will continue to be a combination of the two.
Next time we will look at the example of Jacob.
Prayer: Thank You Lord that You invite us into relationship. Thank You that this relationship involves dialogue, struggle and humility. Help us all in this process. Amen
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