Wrestling With God

 Jacob got up during the night, took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the Jabbok River’s shallow water.  He took them and everything that belonged to him, and he helped them cross the river.  But Jacob stayed apart by himself, and a man wrestled with him until dawn broke.  When the man saw that he couldn’t defeat Jacob, he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and tore a muscle in Jacob’s thigh as he wrestled with him. The man said, “Let me go because the dawn is breaking.”

But Jacob said, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”

 He said to Jacob, “What’s your name?” and he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name won’t be Jacob any longer, but Israel, because you struggled with God and with men and won.”

 Jacob also asked and said, “Tell me your name.”

But he said, “Why do you ask for my name?” and he blessed Jacob there.  Jacob named the place Peniel,“because I’ve seen God face-to-face, and my life has been saved.” The sun rose as Jacob passed Penuel, limping because of his thigh. Therefore, Israelites don’t eat the tendon attached to the thigh muscle to this day, because he grabbed Jacob’s thigh muscle at the tendon.

Genesis 32: 22-32 (CEB)

A wrestling match in the middle of the night with an unknown man; arms and legs flying, grasping, clutching; resulting in an injury, a new name and a blessing. Have you ever wrestled with God as Jacob did?  Have you tossed and turned in the wee hours struggling with a word heard from God - a word heard from a teacher or preacher, or a word read in scripture?

I believe we are meant to wrestle with the word. In struggling with our preconceived notions or with what we have previously believed or been taught, we bring our newest selves to the word and meet God face to face. Often our wrestling match results in a change in ourselves, and always results in a blessing.

But what happens when we, as teachers of the word, present our newfound discoveries to our students as The Answer? Are we not denying our students the opportunity to wrestle with the word themselves? And, in so doing, are we denying them the opportunity for change and for a blessing?