A Wrestling Match with God

Before the match...

And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:

Genesis 32:9 KJV

During and after the match...

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.  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. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.  And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 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. 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.  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Genesis 32:24‭-‬30 KJV

When you get in that place where you see God face to face, God is no longer the God of your fathers or the God of your kin, but he becomes YOUR God. He becomes God in such a deep, personal way that you can no longer speak of God in terms of what he's done for others or who he has been for others, but you speak about what he's done FOR YOU and how YOU know him. 

If we don't truly get to know God for OURSELVES, if we don't get in that wrestling match with God, how can we truly KNOW him? We have to have OUR OWN experiences with him. We have to know him in our own lives for all he is TO US, AND, who he is to others. 

If you're in a wrestling match, you're in good company. Jacob, who became ISRAEL, only AFTER, wrestling with God, would not have prevailed had he not engaged in the match. He would not have prevailed and reached his destiny.

God wants each of us to love him enough to engage with him. Wrestle with him and when we try to resist him, let him show us the things within us that need to be dislocated so that HE can have HIS way with us. It's not a pretty sight. It's not comfortable. It's not easy. It's a breaking. It's painful and it's gut wrenching but oh the rewards that come from coming face to face, in a PERSONAL way, with God. 

Had it not been for the match, had it not been for God sweeping into my life and taking over where I thought I had control, if not for the times my soul cries out to God, had it not been for all the lonely times that I found HIM in the midst of my struggle, had it not been for all the times my anxious heart wanted to jump ahead of God and he came in and said, "I got you, just be still," then MY savior wouldn't be so near and dear to ME. To come to know his love for MYSELF, I'm not sure I can put that into words.

When we get to the point where we say, "I'm not leaving until you bless me," that's the point in time where God becomes so extremely real and shows himself faithful to us. He's no longer the God of our fathers, he's OUR God. We don't just know OF him. We've experienced him in a way that can only be FELT in our greatest times of need. We may have to stick around for a while, and there may be some painful things we have to go through, but we'll never be in better company and we'll never reap greater reward than coming to know Jesus as our own.