Mar 11 - "Struggling With God"

Genesis 46:1-7, 28-34
"When Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, 'Jacob, Jacob.' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then he said, 'I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes.'".
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When you think about your relationship with God, is it easy or hard? Do you feel like you are working against Him, or Him against you, at times? Or, as you assess this partnership, do you rest peaceful with the knowledge that He is working right along side you?

My journey with God has been a long and winding road. Along this road, I have strayed off into the woods every once in awhile. I have even come to a point where I thought the road ended and I had been abandoned. But fortunately, there was always something which brought me back to the journey or allowed me to clear away the debris blocking the road which seemed to be a dead end.

Have you ever felt this way?

The word "Israel" is a funny one. It first appears in Genesis 32:28 after the angel, with whom Jacob had wrestled, told him that his name would no longer be Jacob, but now it would be Israel, because he had struggled with God. The Hebrew word "Israel" (I am by no means an expert in Biblical Hebrew, so might have this wrong) can be broken into two parts; the first part, "isra" is related to the verb meaning "to struggle or toil"; the second part "el" is a very ancient name for the word "God". Putting them together, you get "struggle with God".

When I first learned about the Hebraic origins of this word, it struck me as interesting because, if you think about it, you can say this phrase in two different ways, with two completely different meanings. The first can be meant to imply that there is a daily struggle, a constant work which must be done because we are, in a way, battling with God; "struggling with", then "God". Read this way, it is the literal interpretation of the situation Jacob experienced; wrestling against the angel, who was a manifestation of God on Earth at that moment.

However, as with almost everything, there is another way to look at it.

You can also think of this, breaking the phrase in a different way: "struggling", then "with God". Read in this way, we recognize that we are all struggling every day. We face a daily grind that is the world around us. At times, we seem beset on all sides by things working against us, we have to fight it out every day to keep our sanity, our peace, our faith. But, we are not alone in our struggle. We have a partner, an advocate, the best bodyguard ever working with us in our struggle. God jumps right into the ditch next to us, shovel in hand, and starts digging. He brings the sharp axe to the brush and bramble in which we are often tangled, hacking away and clearing a path for us.

So, struggle...with God. Do battle every day knowing that He is right beside you, behind and above you, in front of you...tackling the scrap in our lives right along with us. Brothers and Sisters, you do not have to do it alone. Call on Him and He will struggle...with You.