Wrestling With God



      

 

        Story 1: He was living in the darkness when he married his wife. So was she. They were both good people, it’s just that neither was walking with the Lord in their lives. Time passed. He eventually accepted Christ and started the spiritual journey to be a devoted follower of Christ. She remained the same—a nice person, a person others enjoyed being around, a decent person. But, they were unevenly yoked now. Each had a world view different from the other. Eventually, as his journey progressed, he fully realized what she was missing in her life, and dreamed of the time when she would accept Christ and they could share a wonderful spiritual journey together. It didn’t happen, and still hasn’t for the 37 years they have been married. Sometimes the differences in the spiritual side of the marriage caused friction, even though he tried diligently to just live his life as an example and give her room to make her choice. He prayed regularly that the Holy Spirit would work in her, to change her. But inside, he was hurting. He was hurting because he knew what she was missing and wanted it so badly for her. He also wrestled with God over the situation. He was angry with God because it wasn’t happening. He would plead with God to make it happen, and sometimes he just outright asked God why it wasn’t happening. He was wrestling with God.

       Story 2: His best friend was dying of cancer, and it was a long, slow process. It was sad to see it happening right in front of him. His friend had given so much of himself to help him in his walk with Christ, and there was so much more to do—yet he was now dying. During his last days, he got to visit his friend. The friend lit up like an over-lit Christmas tree when he came to visit, and none of the conversation that day was about “why me” or “why now.” The conversation was all about what a great God we have, one that loves us all so much. It was about all that He had done in our lives, and what was yet to come. It was, given the circumstances, a happy time together. After the visit ended, and he left, he started to wrestle with God. “Why now Lord?” “Why this man Lord?” He was overcome with both sadness and anger, and he hurt.

       In both cases, the man was wrestling with God. He felt he was wrong for doing so, until he heard something that made sense of it all. Hurting is something we all experience isn’t it? When we are hurt deeply, it can bring us to our knees where we often lash out at God, or plead in deep despair. We are then wrestling with God.
 
        Wrestling with God is a good thing. It’s okay to do so. It’s spiritually sound to do so, because in doing so we are sharing our most raw pain, our doubts, and our hurt with him. At those times when we are wrestling with Him we are hardly sugar coating anything. We are being our real selves, and that is exactly what He wants from us.

        It is during (and after) those times of deep hurt and our subsequent wrestling match with God that we can discover some wonderful things that happen to us as a result.

       In story 1 above, he has learned, from sharing with trusted Christian brothers, that God’s timing isn’t always the same as what we expect. Further, he’s learned that living the life of a Christ follower is his job, and saving another is God’s job, which He will do in His time. Out of that, he’s discovered that by wrestling with God he is learning perseverance, which is the stairway to faith, and that the longer he perseveres, the stronger his faith will be.

       In story 2, he has learned that sometimes when wrestling with God, there are no good answers that will come of it. But, because he wrestled, he found peace and joy by realizing that it’s not a bad thing to wrestle. It’s spiritually healthy, because from it comes spiritual strength and a deeper closeness with God.

Bottom Line Thought: Have you thought that it is a bad thing to wrestle with God? If so, in what ways may that have stifled your sense of joy and peace? Has it stymied your faith in God? What might change that?