We are fascinated by stories of people whose lives have been miraculously transformed by the Gospel. We love to warm our faith by the Divine flame that burns so intensely in their newly acquired faith. We even fantasize about telling our own dramatic conversion stories where waves of “amens” crash loudly on the church shore. Sadly, for most of us our faith appears more like a night-light than a holy fire and our witness looks more like a swell than a perfect wave.

Why are we so mesmerized by these dramatic conversion stories and yet feel so inadequate about our own? I think part of the reason is that we sense that genuine faith is only acquired when one has wrestled with God, especially when that encounter looks like a cage match. The good news is that blood doesn’t have to be shed in order to validate the struggle, just life change. Our encounter with God may be as simple as thumb wrestling or as dramatic as Mixed Martial Arts but either way we must go to the mat to make our faith our own.

The story of Jacob wrestling with God is very instructive in helping us understand what this struggle should look like in our lives. Jacob had the faith of his fathers but had yet to make it his own until he engaged in his own personal struggle with God. The results of this wrestling match were two-fold. First, Jacob acquired a permanent limp because his hip was put out of its socket. Second, God gave him a new name. When we wrestle with God we will also be visibly changed, and our newly forged faith will become intensely personal because it will be stamped with a divine term of endearment.

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. (Genesis 32: 24-31)

I pray that as the sun rises on the New Year we will also “limp” along the roads of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth intently following the “still small voice” of our Lord and Savior calling us by a new name. May the people we encounter along the way be so amazed by our spiritual “limp” that they tag our hand and step into the ring for the most exhilarating wrestling match of their lives.

“One can never wrestle enough with God if one does so out of pure regard for the truth. Christ likes us to prefer truth to him because, before being Christ, he is truth. If one turns aside from Him to go toward the truth, one will not go far before falling into His arms.” (Simone Weil)

Photo by Martin Kníže on Unsplash