Ancient Truth | Modern Sound

I have tried to convey in my thoughts about Genesis one of its foundational ideas which is, of course, therefore one of the foundational ideas of our faith.  It is the idea that God is not passive, he acts, and so acting chooses life for his creation over death and destruction.

The first word after the fall was to the serpent who was told, “because you have done this cursed are you” (Gen 3:14).  When God saw the evil of the time of Noah he was sorry he had made mankind and yet “Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord” (Gen 6:8) and when God acted ultimately he would save Noah and command him again to fill the earth, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1).  Abram too, a good man, seems still to be wandering without purpose until God confronts him in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your great reward” (Gen 15:1).  And then again when he becomes Abraham and God says, “I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless” (Gen 17:1).

If there is just one verse that captures the thread here it is Gen 17:1, “I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless”.  It shows God acting but it also shows why we must be profoundly grateful for what these mighty acts do in our lives.  We walk before God and are blameless because of his mighty acts of salvation.  But is it just about God acting, do we do nothing?  Consider the story of Jacob.

22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

30So Jacob called the place Peniel,  saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

It is a strange story isn’t it.  This person or thing that Jacob wrestles with seems neither god, nor angel, nor man.  Yet it seems that it must be God or and agent of God because only the creator would have the power to change the name of a patriarch (remember Abram to Abraham).  So what do we learn from this?

In the end I think what we learn from this is that even in a story of ancient Patriarchs where God seems real, powerful, and a constant companion and guide, even there we are not just passive actors waiting for God to “do his thing”.   No, it seems that God is to be wrestled to the ground and, in some ways, subdued.  Is there some sense that God needs to bend to our will here?  No, that’s not it.  Yet, there is something in this story that speaks to the nature of the relationship between God and man that brings a different dimension to the relationship of creature and creator.

In the end the episode in Genesis calls to mind how in the stories of Narnia, the narrator and others remind us that Aslan is “not a tame Lion”.  There is a constant undercurrent of the real wild Lion in Aslan.  He is not tamed, yet somehow he is the friend, guide, and protector of the Pevensie’s.  Here, in Genesis, God is not tamed.  He is not ours to command.  He is wild and free acting.  And yet He can be wrestled with and held onto and He can be brought to give us His blessing.   Stunning isn’t it, yet comforting in a turmoil filled world.  The creator is the one we wrestle with, the one we grab hold of and do not let go, and the one who in the morning can say to us, ”you have prevailed”.