Wrestling With God — Wednesday
Hosea 12:4
Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him… (NLT)
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just make a decision today, draw a line in the sand, and make right choices for the rest of our lives? It seems it would be a simple concept. Like, why shouldn’t we be able to make a decision that puts us on a track for health, wholeness, or relational connection? Seems like that would be a great idea. Ever tried it, though? Doable for about five minutes. Maybe a bit longer.
If you’ve walked a recovery pathway, maybe you’ve come across this version of the same idea: Do the next right thing. This tenet involves a tried and tested truth that asserts when small decisions become habitual, they can lead to significant changes in our lives. The trick is to give ourselves the grace to not get it right all the time, to win some and lose some, and to pick up and keep going, with as many freshly made intentions as it takes to see that transformation come over time.
When wrestling through a season of intentionally pursuing life change, ultimately there are a few things you can change on your own, but the most important ingredient of change can only be provided by God. Counselor, author, and coach Bob Hamp talks about this in his ideas on “Levels of Change.”
Bob reminds us we can, to some extent, tangibly change our environment, behavior, capability, or belief by exercising our will to make a decision. You can manage problems in life by changing your job, location, or relationships (the environment level). You can walk through start-doing and stop-doing lists (the behavior level). You can learn new skills to help with what you do and how you feel through YouTube videos (the capability level). And you can change how you see yourself and the world around you by targeting your thoughts (the belief level). But as we progress through this will-power, try-harder list, however, the effort aimed at all these levels of change that go before can all be rendered unnecessary by one thing: a glimpse of who God is and who we are as a result of what He says about us. If the lens of your heart is transformed, and you not only see but believe the truth of who God says you are and what that means, the change in this corner of your heart and mind will work back through all the other levels to bring transformation.
Wednesday’s Reflection
Have you tried “trying harder” already? Lots of us have. Would you be willing to step into a season of letting God share more about who He is and who you are? (Or a season of renewal if it’s a path you’ve already traveled?) It can be helpful to be around others who are on the same pathway. Learn more about connecting with others at Southland at southland.church/groups.
