Wrestling with God

One of the most mystical portions of Scriptures is the account in Genesis 32:22-31 where Jacob the trickster wrestles with a mysterious character and comes away changed, with a new name and a limp. In the end Jacob, now Israel reckons he had a tussle with The Divine. "I have seen God face-to-face, and I am still alive"

There is so much in this story. It’s a conversion story. It’s a story for all us about our wrestling with God. Any conversion leads to change. And not only are we wrestling with God, we are also wrestling with ourselves. The God part of us wrestles with our own ego. An ego that often is resistant to change, resistant to God. We want our life to be on our terms. And so, we resist.

Jacob /Israel, as he comes to close quarter with the Divine, comes away a kinder, wiser man ready to face the things that he has done in the past and ready to lead his people to a future that eventually leads to the birth of the Christ Child who always offers us a way to change. So keep wrestling so you can become closer to the Divine.