What does it mean to struggle with God and overcome? The man with whom Jacob struggled could not physically prevail. Did Jacob's blessing come from "overcoming" God? Am I blessed when I wrestle God down to the point of His giving in? Can I overcome God?
These questions could lead to a stimulating debate of free will and God's permissive will. But, tonight, God took this story in another direction for me:
As a Christ-follower, my goal, rather than to overcome God, should be to know God. God is perfectly good, perfectly perfect, perfectly eternal. He cannot be perfectly known by my imperfect humanity. Therefore, to attain my goal, I must struggle to know Him.
Paul writes of straining toward the goal of knowing God through Christ (Phil3.10-14).
Well, now Christianity just sounds like a whole bunch of struggling and straining. So, what's this talk of "overcoming?"
I may never know the fullness of God, but as I pursue Him, I know Him more. He promised Jeremiah, and He promises me: "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jer29.13).
When Jacob finally arrives at a place in his life where he is done trying to decide his own future - stealing birthrights, blessings, etc., he finds himself wrestling with God, begging for God's blessing, desiring God's plan for his life. In that moment of surrender, paradoxically, Jacob overcomes. Jacob seeks God, and he sees Him "face to face" (Gen32.30).
The struggle is not easy, and it leaves Jacob with a limp, but it also leaves him with a new name and a new destiny. Forever, Israel's offspring will be known as a nation of God's chosen people. Out of Israel's struggle comes Jesus Christ, through whom all may overcome.
My calling is to struggle, to grapple with scripture, to test and affirm or deny things I once held to be true. I may end up with a Jacobian limp, but when my struggle leads me to surrender, when it leads to a greater knowledge of who God is, then I have overcome. The victor's prize is God Himself.
-mo
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