The Olympic Games are coming this summer to France. I enjoy watching a lot of it, especially the types of sports that I don’t usually get to see much of. It would be a tough task to watch it all. Last I counted there were 71 different events at this summer’s games. It is the second ever time for surfing to be an Olympic sport. And a new one this year is breakdancing. I’m not sure what to think of that one. And then there is one of my personal favorites: race walking. It’s basically walking a marathon (running gets you disqualified).
The ancient olympics started in 776 BCE with just one event, a race. It covered one length of a track, called a stade. Later more games were added. By 708 BCE they had more races, wrestling, and the pentathlon (long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, a footrace, and wrestling).
At least one of these sports is in the bible: wrestling. You probably are aware of the story.
Genesis 32:22-31
Jacob Wrestles With God
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
What an interesting story. And what a strange one. What if you were applying for a job at a nearby church? In the interview you showed them your resume, and under the experience section you put “wrestled with God.” What do you think the response would be? I imagine there would be a lot of questions asked about that. And what if you also put “wrestled with God, and won?” Now what do you think the response would be?
It is important to know the context in order to get much out of it. Jacob had stolen the inheritance away from his older brother Esau (with the help of him mother). Esau was furious and Jacob wisely fled the country. He settled with his uncle Laban and immediately fell in love with his second daughter Racheal. Laban strikes a deal with Jacob, turning him into an indentured servant for seven years in order to have Rachael’s hand in marriage. But after this time Laban tricks Jacob and gives him the first daughter, Leah, instead. I feel for Jacob, but not too much. There is a bit of a comeuppance here. So Jacob continues to work for Laban seven more years until he can have Rachael. And then Jacob and his entourage secretly flees from Laban to go back home.
You can’t get a better soap opera than Genesis.
On the way back Jacob hears that Esau and 400 of his men are coming to meet him. It is very easy to assume that Esau is coming for war. So Jacob is stuck between two places and people he has tricked. And here is an account of what happens, in bullet form:
- acob is in trouble
- He is alone on the other side of the river
- He prays to God for help
- God comes to visit him
- He wrestles with God all through the night
- He won’t let God go
- He gets a blessing from God
- But there is a cost
Now let’s take this from the literal to the symbolic. Think back in your life when you have had a big problem, one that might have shook your faith. The bullet points for you become eerily similar.
- You have a problem
- You pray for help
- God comes to you
- You struggle with God all night
- But you won’t let God go
- You are blessed when the night is over, although there may be a cost
Since we are still talking symbolically, you might imagine that “night” means the time when the problem persists, rather than a span of 12 hours or so.
I think this lesson speaks to us on our struggles. It does it through the lens of Jacob, but the real power of the story is when we apply it to our own lives. The bible is saying it’s ok, even encouraged, to struggle with God. Don’t let go of God through it all, and when the night is over you will come out of it a blessed person. It might cost you something, but God’s blessing is the result. This is in stark contrast to people who maintain a shallow faith by refusing to struggle. How much more blessed will we be if we come through the night and endure?
God Bless