Crazy Stranger

What if we opened the Bible and began reading it like a child, to see the wonder and the absurdity of it? Instead, we’re so used to reading it like adults, arriving at intellectual and religious conclusions, only to sadly miss the whole point of the story, which is God Himself.

Think for a minute like a child. Think of a stranger jumping out of the night while you’re all alone. Think about this unknown and unnamed stranger wrestling with you in the dark until morning. What in the world?!

Maybe the weirdest part of the story is that this stranger is God Himself!

Now, here is some background to the wrestling match: Jacob has had a lifetime of looking for love (or blessing, as he calls it), but he hasn’t found what he’s looking for. Isn’t this what most of us do, expecting to find satisfaction for the longing in our hearts from those who cannot, and were never made to fill it? We place the expectant burden of perfect love on our parents, friends, spouses and children. But this is Jacob’s story, not ours, right?

• First he is longing for the love of his father Isaac, at any cost, even at the expense of his brother Esau. But finally his father ends up sending him away to Mesopotamia.
• Second from his uncle Laban as surrogate father, but that ends up being a sticky trap from which he barely escapes.
• Third from his poor wives, Leah and Rachel, who end up putting the same burden back on him, to love them perfectly.
• Forth from his children, and that becomes a heartbreaking disaster of blood, betrayal, and Egypt.

Now, think back to Jacob the wrestler, gripping desperately to God because he knows that God has what he has always longed for. Jacob’s relentless grip is not from anger or stubbornness, but from need. The very deepest need within him, the same need we all have. Do you see his face, do you recognize it?

Have you ever arm-wrestled a child, waiting for him to tire? You hold his arm in the upright deadlock and wait for him to finally give up. But what if that child was so desperate that he was never willing to give up? What if that child said, “I won’t let go until you tell me that you love me?”

The story that God wants to tell us before we go to bed every night is the same story he’s been telling everyone from the beginning. Will you wrestle with Him to hear it?

Genesis 32:22-32