A Wrestling Match
“And Jacob was left all alone. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man appeared and wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he was not winning the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint, leaving it wrenched as he continued to wrestle with him. Eventually, the man said to him, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob refused. “No! Not until you bless me!” “What is your name?” asked the man. “Jacob,” he replied. “Not anymore,” the man said to him. “Your new name is Israel, for you have struggled both with God and with people and have overcome.” Genesis 32
Jacob was alone in the wilderness. We must learn to see the wilderness correctly through the eyes of Yahweh. He is jealous for you and me to be our authentic self. It’s in the wilderness where you find, YOU!
All of a sudden Jacob finds himself wrestling with a man. We’ve been told by religion this man was Yahweh or an angel. This can’t be because this passage states, “the man saw he was not winning the match and struck Jacob’s hip.” First of all, there is no way a human being could wrestle down and beat Yahweh, or an angel and Yahweh would not inflict pain on us. We oftentimes inflict pain on ourselves by wearing the wrong identity.
This man Jacob is wrestling is himself. He’s come face to face with who he is and who he is meant to be. I love how Pastor Tim shared this on Sunday and how it’s for us today because the truth is we are all wrestling with something right now.
Jacob is coming face to face with the decision just like you and me. You can know God and still be misidentified but the thing about Jesus, the love affair with Him makes you stand face to face with who He's designed you to be. He’ll ask you a question- will you take off that misidentified garment and put on what I designed for you? It’s a wrestling match. There's some type of behavior, something you’ve believed about yourself. There’s something in your life that you're wrestling with right now. Yahweh is saying, "It's time to lay that down. You're not hard-hearted. You're not designed to be rough. You're designed to be tender. You're designed to be free. You're designed to be wild. You're designed to be weird and peculiar. And in His presence, he says "I want the real you."
The wilderness is where every significant identity change happens. Don’t be afraid of the wilderness. Just like Jacob, we will find our new identity in the wilderness. Even when it’s hard and you feel like you are losing the fight in certain areas, hold on and keep going back to who Abba says you are. He has a new name for you. Our old identity can be very familiar, and it can be scary to let go of what we’ve always thought of ourselves or a situation.
In this wrestling, Abba is teaching us He can be trusted with the uncharted territory and it’s glorious! The authentic you is ready to come alive! Are you ready to surrender to authenticity?
