Tonight, We Wrestle

How Wrestling With God Can Become the Path to Knowing Him

By Lori Ann Wood

It always starts with an interesting code word, “Taco!” “Quesadilla! “Szechuan!” or “Sirracha!” shouted out from a dead silence. This caterwaul is followed by the pounding of half a dozen feet running overhead. Next comes the distinct thump of elbows and knees hitting the carpeted floor. At that point I know wrestling has begun.

My husband has had a tradition of wrestling with our children since they were little. He was a wrestler in high school (still owns those pants), and he has taught them the holds and rules. So ever since they were four or five, our kids would wrestle with my husband before bedtime (sort of counter-acted my routine for their calming bathtime). I was not included in this wrestling, thankfully. I just listened from another room, and inevitably someone would get “hurt.” Nothing serious, and maybe it was more feelings hurt than bodies hurt, but I always heard that plea for help before they called a truce. Strange thing is, they always wanted to wrestle again the next night.

When Jacob Wrestled

Genesis 32 tells of another wrestling night: the one Jacob spent wrestling with God. On his way home from a 20-year sojourn with his family, Jacob was not looking forward to the reunion with his brother Esau. Remembering Esau’s death threat, Jacob must have assumed that old wounds could still be fresh from a past deception. Decades earlier, Jacob had tricked his father Isaac into giving him a blessing that was meant for his older brother Esau. Jacob surely thought that just as the incident visited him in his conscience, Esau had likely never forgotten. And most importantly, Esau may have never forgiven him.