Wrestling Vs. Resting

         

WRESTLING VS RESTING IN GOD’S ABILITY ©

Many of us have wrestled with life for many years, only to find that life has fought back and seemed to have disabled our ability to truly trust and depend on God. This inability to trust God is about to land us right in the middle of a "wrestling match"… with HIM! Seem unfair? You and God going head to head? Hmmm..What could God gain by wrestling with little ole me? And where will this leave me? Well, it will leave you right where He wants you...having to lean, depend, and rest upon Him. So, you've struggled in life and now you want to struggle back and forth with God! He welcomes you! This is His opportunity to demonstrate to you, the effects of trying to conquer life in your own strength! In wrestling with God, we are telling Him that we have trust in our own abilities. In the bible, Jacob found himself wrestling with God, until daybreak, as a result of his fear and trust issues. He had a “self-reliance” attitude when dealing with life. God will surely need to disable this type of inward assurance. God allowed Jacob to wrestle with him until he barely had strength. Can you imagine, trying to hold on to your own “limited” abilities until you barely have any strength left? God knew that Jacob's faith would begin to increase as a result of his challenging Him, because he would realize that he was not more powerful than God! And that his “inward assurance” would transform to “blessed assurance” in his surrendering to the Almighty God. In the end, God would eventually end up crippling Jacob as a result of him refusing to let him go!! Was it about Jacob not wanting to let go without being blessed? NO!  But God needed for Jacob to change his strategy. In other words, God was saying by disabling him at that moment, “Jacob let me go! Stop wrestling me and “rest” upon me!”  God was showing him that wrestling with him was not going to benefit him, but that trusting and putting his faith in Him was the best way to deal with his struggles, his doubts, his fears, and his failures.  Although Jacob was now disabled, his faith in God was "stellar!" His disability would serve as a reminder of what it took for God to change his life forever!! God took him from a place of wrestling to a place of “resting” on HIM!! Sometimes God has to disable our lives in order to get us to trust him! Once he achieves his desired outcome, which is for us to know that HE is God, and that we are no match for the pressures of this world, outside of HIM! We will begin to see blessing flow. Jacob walked away with his blessing, because he had a renewed spirit, a changed heart, and a new faith. Thank you Lord for our hard lessons; for they bring us to a place of obedience and total surrender! Amen

  “Don’t worry that God has seemed to disable you for a season; He just needed for you to stop wrestling with life and to start resting in his ability.” 

I Corinthians 2:5   New Living Translation

I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.