Wrestling, Blessings and Cud

I love the story in the Old Testament of Jacob wrestling with the Angel of God. I always thought it was an odd thing to do. Usually when an angel appeared in Old Testament, one fell down in awe or a meal was prepared or some other act of reverence. But not Jacob. No, he wrestled with the angel and would not let the angel go until he blessed him. There is really no explanation in the scripture that explains the wrestling match. It just kind of comes up in the story of Jacob. I am sure there is more to the story but I guess we will have to wait to hear it. But in the end Jacob is changed. He now becomes Israel.

So this idea of wrestling and blessing and change are found together. One is based on the other.

I know I have had my experience with wrestling, whether it was an idea or decision or season of uncertainty. But it was only when I fully "wrestled" it out did I receive the "blessing". So then why do so many shy away from uncertainty? Why is there not more "wrestling" among God's people? It seems as if we would rather have our spirituality feed to us by those who have already done the wrestling. But when we do the hard work ourselves it becomes who we are. It seeps into our very being, weaving its way into the fabric of our core.

There are so many things in scripture that are really hard to understand, either because of our limited human intelligence or because it is unnatural or because God has decided not to reveal the truth to us yet. And when we come across these difficulties, we have some choices. We can either turn the page so that we don't see it or we can stick it into one of the many assumptions that we already have. Or we can sit and chew on it awhile. I have this illustration about this, it is not pleasant and I wish I had another one, but here it is. It is kind of like a cow chewing her cud. She chews her food and then chews it some more, so that she can digest every part of it. (interestingly enough when I looked this up I found this statement, "Cud chewing can often be used as an indicator of the health of a dairy herd.")

This idea of wrestling takes time. It is something that takes effort and perseverance. But in the end we are changed by the blessing of God. In the passage, Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me." Hang on and wrestle and be blessed!