Struggling revisited - Genesis 32:22-32

Do you avoid praying and begging God for things that you need? Do you simply pray once and then forget about it? "God knows what I need so I simply trust God for it." Is that a bit of a cop out? God does desire our attention.

Jacob struggled with God. And then God blessed him (29). This is an important part of this story. That blessing changed Jacob's life. Would he have gotten it if he had not struggled with God?

When do I struggle with God? I know I struggle (and get angry) when things do not go my way, when the tire blows out, or the washing machine breaks. Those are times when I call God names.

Why did Jacob struggle with God? We are not told. The action seems initiated by God and not Jacob. But Jacob is about to have a scary confrontation. Jacob has always hated and avoided confrontation. But for the first time Jacob is intentionally walking into confrontation. Do I struggle when I am about to have confrontation? Work meetings are for me a sort of confrontation. I guess any meeting seems like a bit of a confrontation. Thank God I am better than I used to be. I can trust God more in these situations. But I still can get distant, less involved than I should be.

I think Jacob struggled because of his impending confrontation. God initiated the struggle because he loved Jacob and wished better for him. Jacob was blessed and changed by the encounter, not just outwardly.

God loves us too and wants us to do better than we do now. Struggling with God can help bring on these changes. God can and will bless us. That brings the healing that causes change.

I think of the death of our firstborn, Kenneth after three days of life. Did I struggle enough with God for his life? David struggled with God for his doomed child after his sin. He struggled and God said no. Was Kenneth like that? But I was too proud and perhaps too naive to struggle emotionally. There is no answer to this question on this side of the grave. Kenneth is with God and we shall see him some day. That I believe.