WRESTLING OR RESTING

Now, from the offset, I like to think of myself as a manly man.  I like to think of myself as a true servant of Jesus Christ.  I like to think that I am so obedient to God and that He would never have to beg me to do anything.  So naturally, when I consider this thought “Wrestling or Resting?” my natural instinct is to answer this by saying “I’m Resting praise God!”

Then I read verses like Romans 12:1, and Paul says, “I beseech you therefore brethren . . .” Now, if you believe (as I do) that the Bible is the very breathe of God, and that “ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God,” then we have to see this verse in light of the fact that it is God here saying, “I beseech YOU, I beg YOU, I plead with YOU.”  Though I would like the think He’d never have to beg me to do anything, the reality is – He often does have to “beseech me.”

Then we read in the Book of Job where God Himself said to Satan, speaking of Job, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8)  So, when it comes to the question “Wrestling or Resting” I would think, without a doubt, Job was resting.  Then we read further and get to Job 23, verses 3 and 4, “Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! ⁴ I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.”  So I think it is safe to say that Job’s Rest in God didn’t come without some wrestling.

This morning I was reading Psalm 143, and David begins in verse one by saying “LORD, will You hear me? Will to listen to my supplications?  Father be faithful and answer me. . .”  So, I get the sense from reading this verse, David is really wrestling here with God.  And other verses reinforce this by making statements like “our spirits are overwhelmed,” “our hearts are desolate,” “we desperately need to hear from you,” and “we thirst after you – so don’t hide Your face from us.”

Then when you read later in the chapter, you get the sense that David is completely resting in God.  He says “Father we trust You, so deliver us,” “Teach us to do Your will,” “Lead us in righteousness,” “Quicken us LORD and bring us out of trouble – for we are Your servants.”  These sound a lot like resting and depending verses to me.

I remember reading an article once that made this statement, “Resting begins with Wrestling.” Jesus Himself said, “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).  So, the best I can come up with is this, “You will never know what it is to rest unless you’ve had to wrestle.”