Woodrow Wilson’s ninth grade wrestling team, the Rams, was my first time being on a school sports team. It was a rewarding experience, and my first shot at team building. It was exciting, terrifying, and nerve-racking, not to mention completely draining by the end of a match.
I had been on one Little League baseball team, had worked out with our school football team, and played neighborhood street hockey and football games alike – but they were nothing like wrestling.
Using your whole self against another individual of equal size and strength is at once daunting and stimulating. I couldn’t compare anything to this. Local swim team and neighborhood boxing was not that similar. I can say wrestling stands alone, because you do this all alone. A person is standing until the takedown. Then comes the work of getting out of the takedown – an escape. Finally, there is the pin, which is match over and victory for your team.
It was during this time period I was learning about spiritual things, as well. Reading about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Book of Genesis was inspiring. Especially connecting the dots between Old Testament and New, old covenant and new. Even now, almost 45 years later, I’m still connecting all the dots.
What’s interesting is that my name, James, originates from the name Jacob. Jacob was the second son born to Isaac and Rebekah. Esau, his older brother, was favored by his father, while Jacob was more of a “mama’s boy.” But Jacob, meaning “supplanter,” took his older brother’s position and place in history. Thus, our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Jacob left home in order to avoid a major conflict with his older brother that would’ve become deadly. Rebekah urged her son to flee and stay with his uncle Laban in a distant location, away from Esau. It was while Jacob was on this journey that God spoke to him in a dream, and promised him many things, concluding with, “I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob woke up he decided to make a pact with God – as long as God protected and cared for him.
After many years had passed, Jacob, through God’s blessing, was returning to his family, with a large family of his own and a great deal of material wealth. On his way he met a man who wrestled with him all night long. It turned out to be God in the form of man. God initiated the wrestling match, and it was God that told Jacob when it was over. Jacob refused to let go of God until he received a blessing. God then changed Jacob’s name to Israel, because he had struggled with God and man without giving up, and had overcome.
This is not just Jacob’s story, or my story, but every man’s story. We don’t wrestle with God; God wrestles with us. He pursues us all, and initiates all. If we are lucky enough and, like Jacob, are able to overcome both God and man, we will join his family and become new creatures in God’s kingdom.
Related post: Why artist Herb Mandel created more than 200 oil paintings based on the Bible
Jim Robidoux is father of four, lives and works in Manchester, and writes about life in The Life Section – specifically, his own. He enjoys bicycling to work, urban gardening, exploring his Christian faith, and watching the Phillies at Billy’s. And he happens to be married to Manchester Ink Link editor Carol Robidoux.
