“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass
I’ve heard it said that you should never “help” a baby moth or butterfly out of its chrysalis or cocoon. When that creature is ready to emerge, the struggle of getting out helps the wings to develop fully so that it will be able to fly. If you “help” it in its struggle it will eventually die because those wings don’t have the strength they need.
Ever struggled through something? A challenging class at school? A difficult relationship? A burning question? An illness or injury? A financial mess? Although some people relish the fight, most people would probably prefer a life with less struggle. Even Jesus struggled with deep and painful anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion. He asked his disciples to stay awake and pray with him. “Jesus was beginning to feel deep anguish. Then he said to them, “My anguish is so great that I feel as if I’m dying. Wait here, and stay awake with me.” (Matthew 26:37-38 GW) If Jesus could know struggle and anguish, we are not immune from it.
Jacob, “the Deceiver,” had wrestled with his circumstances much of life. The younger of twins, he was always chasing his father’s love and blessing, to the point he sneakily convinced his elder brother Esau to give over the firstborn’s blessing. After that episode he had to run from home and ended up spending 20 years working for his father-in-law Laban, but their business dealings were less than stellar. Finally, he decided it was time to go home and reconnect with his brother – a decision that had no little apprehension for him.
One night on the journey he sent his wives, children, and the rest of his household ahead and he wrestled all night with God in the form of an angel. At the end, the angel knocked Jacob’s hip out of place and Jacob wrestled on, demanding a blessing. After a lifetime of trying to prevail over Esau, Laban, and now God, Jacob was still fighting. But finally in that night he recognized that God was the ultimate control in his life. In Genesis 32:28 (MSG) the angel told him, “Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through.“
Can you say you’ve “come through” struggles or times of wrestling in life?
I expect you can. No matter the struggle, we serve a God who works on us through that wrestling – calling us deeper into intimate love and grace, inviting us to lean into him, draw on his strength, and prevail in the end. God uses our struggles as a potter works clay – to mold us and shape us. James 1:2-3 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (NIV) These trials have a purpose. We are never promised an easy life, but that when we live life in tandem with God, he will be present to us, we will be comforted, and we will have his courage and strength.
Our wrestling is not in vain, even when we can’t see the outcome or the resolution.
Ultimate God,
Thank you for your faithfulness to us, especially when we are wrestling or struggling. Thank you that when we face trials you use them to grow us. Thank you for giving us courage and strength so we do not have to be afraid. Help us to know and respond to your love and grace as we wrestle with you or struggle in our circumstances. Help us to remember that with you we can come through anything we face in this life. Help us to allow you, the Potter, to make us and form us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, in whose name we pray, Amen.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 AMP)
“Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?” God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:6 MSG)
“During the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions. But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint. The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.” Jacob said, “I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me.” The man said, “What’s your name?” He answered, “Jacob.”
The man said, “But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through.” Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?” The man said, “Why do you want to know my name?” And then, right then and there, he blessed him.
Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!” The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip.” (Genesis 32:22-32 MSG)
(originally published April 20, 2022)