Wrestling with God?
- Gary Fritsch
- Jul 8
- 2 min read
I think we all know someone who has a nickname that becomes their name. I used to do mission work with a man whom I knew simply as Big Fish. It was over a year before I learned his real name. God is big on re-naming. But perhaps it is actually 'real-naming'.
In the New Testament, we are familiar with Saul being named Paul and of course Simon named as Peter. While we see these as re-namings, God knows our nature much deeper than we do, and deeper than those who give us our names in this world. So perhaps Simon was a 'rock' from birth. Likewise, Jacob had wrestled with God long before the dream, and long before receiving the name: Israel. The name means yisra (contends with) el (God).
Not only would God name Jacob Israel, but this would become the name of the nation that would be born from Jacob's twelve sons. I can almost imagine God, like the father of a young child who wants to wrestle, saying 'oh, you want to grapple with me? Good, I'm going to call you 'wrestles with God'. Not only you, but all of your descendants. Like that Father, God delights in His son wrestling with Him, because when he is in the midst of this 'battle' he is engaged with God, not running away, not turning his back. God welcomes our wrestling. When we have wrestled with God, we are fully aware of His existence and He is as real as anything else in our lives.
So wrestle with God. Ask your questions, be angry with Him. He is delighted to take you on. He knows that contending with Him is in your nature.
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