I Fought With God -- And I Won!

I wasn't planning on posting anything today, but I laughed out loud while reading scriptures, and that was the turning point.

How preposterous an idea is that? Fighting with God and winning. Suggest to a stern Christian friend that you pulled this off and he'll likely think you won a ticket to hell for your insolence!

But it wasn't me who did it, and it was God Himself who conceded the match. The winner was Jacob, and God offers his concession speech in Genesis 32:28, where as a prize he offered Jacob his new name.

Genesis 32:24-31

This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”
But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
“What is your name?” the man asked.
He replied, “Jacob.”
“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”
“Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.
“Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.

As I write this, I can hear my 7-yr old daughter Abby upstairs getting ready for school. If ever there was a Jacob in the form of a girl, it is Abby. She's going to steal her older sister Rachel's birthright before it's over, and she'll pave roads with the bodies of the people who got in the way of her dreams, one of which involves having Rachel's best friend Kelli become her best friend.

There is hope for you, little Abby. God loves the Jacobs of this world. He even wrestles with them. And in moments of graciousness, he might pretend you won. Which is awfully kind of him, since at any point he can simply touch your hip and incapacitate you.

But of course the secret for Abby, and for Jacob, is in learning that God can fight our battles for us. He wants to. Jacob learned this the hard way, which is the story told in chapters 29 through 32. Throughout Jacob's account we see that God was fighting for him. I wonder how many chapters Abby will have to endure before she learns this precious lesson.

What about me? Have I learned it? I think not. Whenever I feel my gut tighten, and I begin to compose my verbal onslaught for those who oppose me or wrong me... I have forgotten that God will fight for me. I do not have to worry.

But this is the meaning of Jacob's new name. Israel. It means "God fights." And, as a note to self, I think a good takeaway from this passage is this reminder: If I'd stop fighting with God, he'd have more hands free to fight for me.