Relax. Everything's going to be awesome.

Genesis 32: 22-26 ²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

   But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

So, it’s been a while. But the play that I was in is now over so I should have more time to write. Theoretically. Anyway, we’re past Abraham and Isaac and now we’re talking about Jacob. Now, in case you don’t know, Jacob is another of those people that you probably got the wrong impression of in Sunday school. Jacob was a lying, cheating, back-stabbing, jerk. He cheated his brother out of his inheritance and out of his father’s blessing. Both were WAY more important back in the day than they are now. It was such a big deal that his brother, Esau, decided that, after their dad died, he was going to kill Jacob. So Jacob ran away to live with their uncle. 15 years, two wives, two concubines and twelve-some-odd kids later, Jacob returns to his family because God told him to. Jacob is pretty sure that Esau is going to kill him when he gets back, but he does what God says anyway. On the way back he gets in a wrestling match with God. I’d say there was more context to that but if there is I don’t know it.

I can, however, give you two things to take away from it. First off, it is okay to wrestle with God. In Christian circles it is pretty popular to say something like, “I’ve been struggling with X.” For those of you who haven’t been in the church long enough to know, this can mean one of two things. It can mean, “I’m sinning in X way but I want it to sound like I’m past it.” It can also mean, “I’m struggling with something way worse than X, but I don’t want you to know about that so I’m going to tell you I’m struggling with X.”

This is pretty much bull crap either way. It’s a way of being fake when what we need more than anything else is to be honest. But being honest will hurt and/or be embarrassing so we’re fake. What’s even worse is, we do this with God sometimes. I don’t know how you pray, but I wonder, how respectful are you? How do you talk to God? Do you talk to him the way you talk to another person, or do you talk to him like he’s a King/Vending machine? Do you think if you’re polite enough and nice enough he’ll give you what you want?

Stop it. Go read some Psalms and pay attention. It is okay to yell at God. He can take that. Be honest with Him. If you’re angry with Him, He knows it. Why try to hide it? Talk to God about what’s really bothering you, don’t just thank Him for the nice weather or the food on your plate. It is okay to wrestle with God. In fact, you need to do it.

Alright second point, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” That is gutsy. I don’t know when the last time you wrestled with someone, but I can tell you, it is exhausting after about five minutes. After a whole night of it, you’d probably be all but dead. And God wasn’t exactly fighting with kid gloves on. Jacob came away from this fight with an injury that left him limping for the rest of his life. Even after all that, he told God, he wasn’t letting go until God blessed him.

Now, when I told you that it’s okay to wrestle with God, I didn’t say you weren’t gonna leave the fight okay. But you didn’t go into it okay either, so keep that in mind. What’s important is that you don’t stop. One of Jesus’ parables basically boiled down to “keep asking God for things.” Do it. God will give you good things. Ask for wisdom. Ask for boldness. Ask for anything and everything you can think of for you and everyone else you can think of. Don’t stop. I’m not saying you’ll get what you want, or that you won’t walk away limping. I will promise that you’ll come away blessed and that you want that more than you know.