“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.”” Genesis 33:24-26
We so often fight against God. We want it our way and we want it now. We want God to give us what we want, because we know best, of course. We fight against God’s Will in our day to day but mostly we fight Him in our sin.
Why would God not be able to simply overcome and pin Jacob? Jacob seemed intent upon getting the blessing of ‘the man’ he wrestled. Maybe this is the reason God didn’t show His power and defeat Jacob? God wanted him to fight for the blessing.
How often do we fight for God’s blessing and attention? I think that at times, God will wrestle and struggle against us to get us to fight. Not to fight against Him, but to fight FOR Him. To stand against even ourselves in order to get God’s blessings.
I don’t know, I’m no scholar and certainly no saint, definitely more a sinner struggling against God. But, this makes a lot of sense to me. Why else would God allow us to struggle with the challenges of life that we often do? Why would He draw us back to His mercy each time we sin, over and over?
Turning back to prayer in struggles, and coming back again to the confessional with the same sins is fighting FOR God. Fight FOR His blessing.
Maybe I need to try to fight harder for Him.