He was restless as he thought about the last leg of his journey into hostile lands. He didn’t know how he was going to be received by the lord of the land he was entering, they hadn’t left on the greatest of terms when they had last parted. As he sent the last of the caravan across the river just before sunrise, a brawny dark figure walked toward him on the grass of the riverbank.
“You worry too much old man, stop being such a pansy” he scoffed at Jake as he took his shirt off and playfully began to circle Jake on the grass. Jake stared at the man’s powerful body and dark leathery skin as he became aware of a proffered wrestling match and he too removed his shirt, just the two men alone on the grass by the river. The man lunged at Jake powerfully and Jake slapped him away feigning right, grabbing his opponents’ ankle and tripping him. The powerful man went down hard but sprang up quickly as Jake hit him midsection and they both tumbled to the ground.
They twisted and turned on the grass, grunting and groaning as one, then the other gained the upper hand in the match. The large man put Jake in a headlock and told him to say uncle, but Jake then threw sand in the big man’s face and flipped him over, freeing himself from the headlock. Jake threw his legs around the big man’s neck and placed him in a scissor hold, then said with a grin “I’ll cut you loose if you say uncle, haha”. It was almost daybreak, and the man realized he coundn’t beat Jake, so he said let’s stop. Jake smiled and said “only if you bless me” Jake’s smile was cut short though, the big man reached around with his powerful hands and placed his hand on Jakes hipbone. He then grabbed it in such a way that bright light of pain burst before his vision, then he smacked it with his knuckle and Jake lost all control of his legs and released his large adversary. Jake lay on the grass holding his hipbone and rocking back and forth on the grass in pain.
The big man stood, “what’s your name then he asked”? Jacob he said as he got to his feet unsteadily again. Well Jacob, you will now have a new name, you will be called Israel, because you have struggled with God and humans, and have overcome. The big man blessed Jacob there, and then left, and Jacob named that place as a monument because he had seen God face to face and yet his life was spared.
As Jacob went on ahead in his journey to meet the lord of the land of his birth, his brother Esau, a man he had cheated out of his birthright, he still feared that his brother would not want to see him, would maybe want to kill him on sight. But he had amends to make regardless of the consequences, so he forged on. His scouts told him that his brother was headed toward them also, with four hundred of his men. Jacob feared what this might mean, but what really was there to fear, he had just wrestled on the grass with the Creator of the heavens and the earth, that had to mean something. Why would He do that, why would God come down and choose to playfully wrestle with him, It had to be that He wanted Jake to loosen up, and that message about struggling with God and humans, and overcoming. If Jake was heading into his death God would not have bothered to come down and given him such a message of strength and courage. And why didn’t God “have” to win the wrestling match, in the end, if a winner had to be chosen, it would have gone to Jake, not God, had God not smacked his hipbone in that strange way Jake would have never let go. Again, a message of strength and encouragement.
As the sun rose high in the sky and Jake could see the dust from the horses of Esau and his men coming, his feelings of trepidation receded more, he knew it was going to be a good day. God Bless-JFT
This story is fiction, while based on Genesis 32
“…And why didn’t God “have” to win the wrestling match…”
As with our own struggles, God is always making and molding us into what He wants us to be. It is the struggle that forms us. For Jacob, the wrestling match changed him into a patriarch whose name then became Israel.
So who really won? God did, of course.
“As with our own struggles, God is always making and molding us into what He wants us to be”
If I bite my tongue any harder it will bleed… 🙂
I sometimes find it easier than to submit (in some instances). Some things are easier to pack up and hand over to Him. The ones I want to work the way I want them to work? Not so much!
Looking forward to what He will mold in (or out) of me. I’m getting the feeling that daybreak is not far away. Maybe I should give in now before I get the hip hit…. but I want the blessing, I think. Catch 22?
Blessings and thanks much. This post and your response have put me in a state of semi-shock. God be praised!
Blessings,
ann
Hi Ann,
I have to give that response to Larry, it was his 😉 .
Larry, you are absolutely right, would you not have loved to be in the sidelines of that match? To see the mannerisms of God as he playfully sparred with Jacob, building his confidence as they went along. To hear the banter that no doubt went along during the wrestling match, the “trash talk” that guys do in such situations. It gives a powerful and different insight into God. Did Jacob know he was wrestling God or think it was just a playful traveller passing through, or a local? I don’t think he did. I love this story, makes you wonder about the people we meet sometimes who challenge us huh?
Thank you for sharing.
There is much I cannot write here, but you struck a nerve!! ( A nerve that needed to be struck, mind you.)
What’s the point of wrestling with Him? It’s not like I am ever going to ‘win’. Delaying the inevitable? I dunno…
Very beautiful, yet frightful piece. Shook me awake in an instant. In my many moons of writing / reading, I have never come across anything like this. It’s as if I could feel the wet grass under my own feet as I tried to size up Who I was going up against, knowing full well that in the end, His will must trump my desires. Kicking against the pricks? Ow!! Oh man…
… (indicates MUCH unsaid)
Thankful for your prayers as the Holy Spirit leads.
Blessings
ann
Thanks Ann,
I am really glad you were blessed by this writing, reading this scripture again in depth did the same thing to me, to imagine God wrestling with me in the form of a man on the grass by a river, and him letting me win.
When I was a kid, I was playing little league and I had a game where I didn’t hit well, it was an off game and I felt really bad. My brothers took me out to a pool hall, and we shot some pool and ate pizza. They let me win yet swore up one side and down the other that they didn’t, that I was that good. I didn’t feel like such a loser then, and my confidence was buoyed. I kinda think that was what God did here, how awesome. I am really glad it blessed you Ann. God Bless-Jim
“A message of strength and encouragement . . .and a good day”. Well, what could beat that? Thanks Jim, these somewhat fictional stories blow me away. God bless you as you let Him write through you!
Thanks Deb,
Just inspiration from the Word, I am glad it encouraged you. I always proceed cautiously as I write fictionally about a factual event, but having a good imagination helps me there. I never want to mislead or sensationalize Gods word, but more to emphasize it. Anyway, I am glad it blessed you today. God Bless-Jim
I love historical fiction, and that is what I think you do! And you do it sooo well, really helping those stories come to life for us. Thank you!
Have you ever read or heard of Bodie and Brock Thoene? They are a husband / wife team ( the wife writes mostly and hubby researches, but he has some books of his own out too ) who do historical fiction series. One of my favorites because they do what you do . . .take me there. Thanks Jim!
Historical fiction, hmmm. Never heard that before. Actually don’t even have a name for what I do, It just comes you know. Thank you for the kind compliments but I can’t take credit, most of the time there is really no plan, I just start typing and stop when it feels right. I will have to look thos two up, I have never heard of them before, but I would defianatly be interested. I am glad you liked it Deb, God Bless-Jim