Wrestling With God — Tuesday
Ephesians 6:12
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (NLT)
As a kid, my Saturday morning routine was pretty standard. Roll out of bed. Grab a couple of cherry Pop-Tarts. Turn on the television and watch a few hours of cartoons, memorize every commercial. And then watch pro wrestling until lunchtime—and boy, I’d be all in for every bit of the drama with superstars like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Andre the Giant. It is fun to look back and think of those characters in their heyday… the matchups, the “conflict,” the posturing. Oh, yeah! And the wrestling. It was real.
Wait, what? It was not?!
Later in life, I joined the wrestling team in high school. I was terrible at it. It was way less glamorous than what I’d seen on television. A ton more work. A lot more painful being wrapped up, tied into a pretzel, headlocked, and pinned to the mat for yet another loss.
But I got better, and I got stronger. And I finally started winning most of my wrestling matches as a senior in high school. But by then, I just got tired of endless push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups. Of never eating enough to fill up at mealtimes and being hungry all the time as I constantly tried to make it into a lower weight class. I wrestled for three years only to give up and throw in the towel. No happy ending there for me.
Because real wrestling isn’t easy. It’s…
Sleepless nights.
Struggling intellectually with belief.
A friend whose life always seems to spiral downward.
The chronic temptation to quit when work gets difficult.
A friend wrestling with singleness.
In the face of loss, death, waiting.
Crying out for healing, a new job, the next month’s rent.
The wrestling match takes so many different forms, there are just no simple answers. Why, God? Do You see? Or hear? Do You care? Even when we know the answers, sometimes the act of wrestling through something can make it tempting to just quit. It’s not fun or glamorous at all… but God does see, and hear, and care.
Tuesday’s Reflection
Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Keep going. Pray and reach out to someone who can listen and encourage you along the way. Not sure who to talk with? Come talk with one of our Prayer Team members after church on Sunday or reach out today.
