Wrestling with God ~ Bible Study blog for Thursday, May 8

We continued our discussion of the drama between brothers Jacob and Esau.  When these twin sons were born, Esau was born first with Jacob gripping his brother’s heel.   Jacob proved to be a trickster, scheming for his brother to sell him his first-born right for a bowl of stew, and disguising himself as his Esau to gain his dying father’s blessing.  Esau becomes so angry at his Jacob’s actions that he plans to kill him.  So their mother Rebekah sends Jacob to her brother Laban and his family, where he falls in love with Laban’s second-born daughter Rachel.  It is here that Jacob will get his comeuppance: Laban agrees to give him Rachel’s hand in marriage after working for him for seven years.  When the seven years is completed, Laban gives Jacob his other, first-born daughter Leah instead—and requires Jacob to work for him for another seven years before he will give him Rachel. 

Later, God commands to return to the land of his ancestors—which means that he must face his brother.  Jacob prepares a large gift of livestock and servants to win his brother’s favor—while knowing that Esau may make good on his threat to kill him.  Fortunately, the brothers reconcile.

Prior to their reconciliation, Jacob encounters a stranger who wrestles with him.  When the stranger fails to prevail against Jacob,  the stranger renames him “Israel”—because Jacob has wrestled with humans and with God and has prevailed.  Jacob had seen God face-to-face, and his life was preserved.  Jacob is the only person to ever see God and survive.

The history of God’s people is a history of human beings wrestling with God and other people.  It’s amazing to look back through the Bible, and through entire millennia to the present time, and to consider how greatly people have tried to destroy the People of God.  Egypt attempted to destroy God’s people in slavery; Babylon attempted to destroy them in exile, and later the Roman Empire attempted to destroy Christianity.  Through centuries of persecutions, corruptions within Christianity, and the Holocaust, the world has been unsuccessful in destroying both Christianity and Judaism.  God’s people continue to prevail, by grace.

So much of the Christian life is a wrestling with God.  Our heartbreaks, disappointments, and trials wreak havoc upon our faith.  We sin, suffer the consequences of those sins, and question how God could ever love us again.  Sometimes the pain and fear become so great that faith basically dies.  But by grace, we prevail.  Even if our faith dies, it is not beyond the power of the Holy Spirit to re-create it, stronger and more assured than before. 

We affirmed that God is not the source of suffering—because sin and death are God’s enemies.  But when they strike, God can use the trials they create as discipline—the kind of discipline that strengthens and refines our faith.  Through trials, God forms us into the people God desires for us to be.  By grace, we will prevail against every single one—even death itself. 

As we continue our journey through the Word, we will see God’s people prevailing by grace against unspeakable evils, hurts, and even their own failures. 

Join us for our next Bible study on Thursday, May 22 at 7:00.