Today’s scripture: Genesis 32:24-28 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Bradley Compton):
Do you ever feel like life isn’t merely uncooperative, but that it’s working against you? It’s like putting shoes on a baby — the harder you struggle, the more she/he wiggles and the louder she/he fusses. I’ve heard preachers present the Bible as a kind of simple recipe book. “Follow the steps chronologically and the peace of the Holy Spirit will descend on you without fail. You must set your focus on the cross, submit your will to God, read the Bible, and the answers you seek will come in time.” However, particularly in the Old Testament, it seems like folks did a lot of wandering almost aimlessly until messengers or disembodied voices praised, scolded, or told them to do such-and-such. Some were cruelly punished for seemingly minor disobedience (e.g., Uzzah struck dead for merely touching the ark of the covenant to keep it steady in travel), while others like David and Solomon were punished for wicked deeds like murder and idolatry, but were still allowed to keep their longevity and status as rulers. When the complexity of contemporary life meets the complexity of the Bible, I find myself needing to focus on the narratives like allegories to match up with circumstances vexing me. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine whether I’m a David or an Uzzah, but in my daily putting-shoes-on-a-baby struggles, I hope that I’m like the protagonist of today’s scripture: Jacob, a.k.a. Israel — “one who wrestled with God.”
I spent over a quarter of my life in a support group wherein one often hears the phrase, “Don’t give up before the miracle happens.” Nearly all of us there do not seek help because we are weak-willed; on the contrary, it seems that our willpower is so hyperfocused that it drags us by the wrists barefoot through brambles and over jagged rocks until we land at the doors of this group’s meeting places because we know of nowhere else to turn. I think we stay there under the, at least implicit, condition that regardless of what God puts in our trajectory, we will accept it as long as our lives become better than they were before we committed to this new approach to living. Sometimes on this journey, I feel like my only choices are to fight with God or to cut myself loose because I find neither satisfaction nor rest by engaging in a spiritual life.
Our scripture today provides a compelling metaphor resembling this struggle. It seems to suggest at least two things. One, God respects earnest and even stubborn perseverance through adversity. God honored a covenant with Jacob, and Jacob’s struggle earned him the new name Israel — “one who wrestled with God.” Two, you may find yourself limping away from your wrestling match with God. Jacob grappled with a mysterious person one evening after leaving his father-in-law’s land. Some hold that this person was an angel; some hold that it was God incarnate. Jacob, weary from his trip and with fear of his brother’s wrath, fought this person to a stalemate at dawn at which time he asserted, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!” In the long run Jacob was blessed, but he also had his hip dislocated. The significance of this event is so great that it was memorialized in three ways: Jacob’s name changed to Israel, which is also the name of the nation comprised of his offspring; Jacob designated the location Peniel — “the face of God;” and the Israelites refused to eat the leg meat near the hip bone of animals in reverence of what took place here.
Thought for the day: God, let my faith be strong enough to endure my confusion and struggling with you. I accept any hurt and fear you pull me through — just don’t let me go.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.