Gen 32:24-32

24        And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

25        And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

26        And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

27        And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28        And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29        And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

30        And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

31        And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

32        Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

Once upon a time, I wrestled with a cognitively challenged five year old.  This little boy was intent on besting me at wrestling. He kept coming after me again and again.  At first, I held him back with one hand.  As time went on, I put him in a head lock.  Eventually I began to tire while he kept coming.

I remember him saying over and over again, “Tony I am going to pin you!”

Eventually his mother grew annoyed and was about to spank him.

As an act of grace and mercy, I allowed the boy to believe that he pinned me.

He got up from the match triumphantly jumping up and down shouting, “I am the greatest”.

Many times we wrestle with God.  He could crush us so easily.  At first he entertains our attempts at pinning him with merciful restraint.  Eventually though our wrestling matches with God build with intensity as we continue to struggle and strain against an all powerful God.  With these matches, we are bound by our human limitations.  God is only limited by His unlimited love for us.

We primarily wrestle with God thru our fear.  God wants us to trust Him but we wrestle with Him because we are fearful of succumbing to His will.  We are fearful that God’s plans for our lives might not encompass or include our hopes and dreams.  Often time from that perspective our fears are warranted because God does not always let us have what we want.  The good news is that God’s plans are greater for us than anything that we could ever believe for ourselves.  So some of our dreams will die while endless opportunities will be opened for us.  Because we are fearful of losing our sovereignty…we wrestle with God.

Jacob wrestled with God out of fear too.  God could have crushed Him but of course he loved him so He entertained his fool hardy challenges.  Like I honored the five year old, God honored the persistence of Jacob.  He honored Him with a new name and a new purpose. 

Here is the moral of the story.  Jacob had a blessing coming anyway.  He didn’t have to be fearful.  He didn’t have to wrestle with God.  All He had to do was trust Him.  Jacob permanently hurt his thigh because He decided to wrestle with an all powerful God.  Jacob walked with a limp for the rest of his life because of fear.

Like the five year old, we can walk away from our wrestling matches limping, proclaiming, “I am the greatest”.

We would be wiser if we would refrain from our fearful wrestling.