Sunday, March 4, 2012

Wrestling with God

I thought i'd sit down for a bit jot some thoughts on where i'm at. Right now, i'm a little less than 2 months out from graduation for my Bachelor's degree. In the mean time, i have no idea what God has for me career wise immediately after graduation. This got me thinking about Jacob...

"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 until 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.' -- Genesis 32:22 and following.

More often than not, the above picture is how i've been feeling lately.

The thing that blows me away about our relation ship with Christ is the invitation. Jesus says to us in Luke 11 "seek and you'll find"; this is an invitation to a hunger type of life style that seeks to tackle the hard moments in your faith. For me, this word has profound comfort in that I know God is ok with me asking "um...what's next, God?"

The most striking thing about the story of Jacob wrestling God is what happens afterword. Jacob is left with a limp after his wrestling match. That is to say, the man known afterwords as "Israel" never walked the same again. What a painful blessing.

So, God invites our struggle with the divine and afterwords, we'll never walk the same.

might be a little bit of a hasty conclusion, but i think it's fair to say that this is true out of true theophanies (God encounters).

though i'm in a place in my life that i desperately need guidance from our Father, I long to have the kind of blessing that hurts a little each day so that i can remember my true purpose and the things that i've learned about God and life in the process.

I hope this little mental vomit was helpful to you, the reader.

pax,
The Dread