I’ve learned much about wrestling since my middle son started wrestling this year. It’s a sport that requires strength, strategy, strong will, and perhaps surprisingly, humility. The other reason I’ve been thinking about wrestling is because I’ve been reading about Jacob’s life. Of course, Jacob had the most famous wrestling match in human history (Genesis 32:24-30).
I believe there is much to be gleaned from the replay of that match. Jacob always struggled with his identity—a deceiver and trickster. In this wrestling match though, Jacob was given the name Israel which means “may God prevail.” In Peniel, Jacob confronted an opponent he couldn’t beat, but in the struggle, even the life-long limp he carried thereafter, victory was found.
As I learn how to watch wrestling matches, I see that there are moments of struggle when one is forced to submit to the other. Only, as I picture this match between Jacob and God, I now see the struggle differently. It wasn’t God withholding, rather it was God prevailing so that Jacob could learn to surrender his old identity that prevented the blessing God wanted to give him.
In many ways, I see this call on all our lives. As we search for our God-given identity, we often must surrender the identities that we learned wrong, identities we learned from well-meaning but imperfect people, even family and friends. In this struggle, we must remember that it isn’t God against us, it’s God for us!
It is submission to His will and His way that often feels unnatural, and even hurtful. However, when God prevails, we don’t lose, we win. When God prevails, countless people are touched because of our blessing.
By: Joy Howard
~ Christ Fellowship