One night as Jacob sat alone by the fire, watching over his camp, a man came out of the wilderness. We are never told exactly what happened next, but I imagine the man gave some account of who he was and how he came to be there. Bound by the strict laws of hospitality, Jacob offered the man a seat by his fire and perhaps a bite to eat. The men got talking and it was soon clear that they liked each other. We don't know who suggested the wrestling match, but I suspect it was the angel.
By daybreak, Jacob had learned some very important lessons. He knew the limits of his strength and his endurance. He knew that the mysterious stranger he wrestled with was not a man but an angel – if not God himself. That is why, even though his hip was painfully wrenched, he refused to let go until the stranger had blessed him.
Why do I think it was the angel who suggested the wrestling match? God wrestles with every one of us, the way a father wrestles with his young son. The father does not use his full, manly, strength against the boy, just enough to call forth the boy's full strength. The boy learns to know his own strength and he enjoys the rough and tumble play because he trusts his father not to hurt him.
But wasn't Jacob hurt? The tendon of his hip was wrenched and he went away limping. That was necessary for two reasons: firstly, to show that the stranger was an angel not a man and that he could have ended the bout at any time. The lesson was not that God could not overcome Jacob, He could have killed Jacob at any time. God's purpose was to teach Jacob what he was capable of and that he could hold on even when in pain. When the angel said he had prevailed, he did not mean Jacob had defeated the angel, but that he had passed the test. Too often we give up at the first moment of pain or fear. I know, I've done it myself often enough — and regretted it!
Why wrestle with the angels?
I am not a pastor or a priest. My background is in science, and that is the training and philosophy I bring to my faith. My scientific background has taught me that the way to find the truth is by wrestling with it. Truth cannot be overthrown: you may pin it for a while but it will break free. If you throw it to the ground, it will spring up and come straight back at you. There is an old saying that a lie is halfway round the world while truth is still lacing it's boots, but truth is relentless. Like the hare in Aesop's fable, truth always wins the race in the end.
That doesn't mean we can relax in the knowlege that truth will win eventually. Lies and misconceptions are dangerous and we must do what we can to weed them out. That is why we must wrestle, not only our demons but also our angels. Sometimes even our most cherished beliefs turn out to be founded on lies and misconceptions, and some things we dismiss out of hand turn out to have a core of truth. Demons and angels come of the same stock and sometimes it is hard for mortals to tell the difference. All too often, the pleasant thing you fervently hope to be true turns out to be false, and the thing you most fear and hope to be false turns out to be true. That's been my experience at least, and in my experience it's better to know sooner rather than later.
My mission
In this blog I will be exploring issues of faith in the context of current events and issues of the day through the lens of faith and my own philosophy. I believe we must be courageous in our faith, and that means being ready to challenge accepted doctrine, and to deal with the 'difficult' passages of the bible, the ones most people prefer to ignore. You may disagree with me. That's how it should be. I'm only a man, so sometimes I will be wrong, but I will do my best to be honest. All I ask is that you think about what I say here and make your own conclusions.
In a sense, I believe that God wrestles with all of us every day, testing our strength so that we can know our own strength. In that spirit, I am going out to wrestle with the angels.
Care to join me?
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