HEAVENSREEF

DO YOU EVER WRESTLE WITH GOD?  You know the kind…….where you are on your knees, down and dirty in the trenches asking HIM all sorts of things, tears flowing, body shaking?  Do you throw your hands up in frustration saying ” it’s not fair” or “LORD, I just don’t get it!”

We cannot deny those feelings because we are only human.  But in those feelings, we cannot deny what they are and whose they are……and so we go humbly before HIM and cry out: why?  

And if we cannot deny our feelings, then we cannot deny what GOD says to us in HIS word.  If we do, we deny our very soul……..a soul created by GOD, the ONE who loves us.

If you read the Psalms you will see that David wrestled well with GOD…….

PSALM 88:6 ” YOU HAVE PUT ME IN THE LOWEST PART OF THE PIT, IN THE DARKEST PLACES, IN THE DEPTHS.  YOUR WRATH WEIGHS HEAVILY ON ME; YOU HAVE OVERWHELMED ME WITH ALL YOUR WAVES.”

Obviously David was in a pit…….and many times we are too.  And then David says this:

PSALM 88: 13 “BUT I CALL TO YOU FOR HELP, LORD; IN THE MORNING MY PRAYER MEETS YOU.”

In the middle of the pit, in the middle of despair…….David did not turn from GOD.  Instead he prayed and called out to GOD.

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WRESTLING WE NEED TO CALL OUT TO GOD TOO!

What we don’t realize is that in that pit…… we are not alone…….no, in the pit is where we are closest to GOD.  HE is there with HIS comfort and grace and HE comes near.

Wrestling can be a good thing…….our very souls will grow, change and transform when we wrestle.  Our perspectives will change and we will eventually climb out of that pit, all with the good LORD’S help! 

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PIT OF WRESTLING WE CAN SAY: “I have seen the LORD!”

We tend to wrestle each day with our sins don’t we?  Paul did, even asking the LORD to remove the “thorn” from his side.  We don’t know what that was, but we do know GOD’S response:

2 CORINTHIANS 12: 9  “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU FOR MY POWER IS PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS.”

And I think we need to get right with this fact, have our moment on our knees where we wrestle with the fact that……..sometimes there are no good answers!!  Could it be that we don’t have all the answers because of HIS grace?

Are you ok with that?  Are you ok with maybe never getting an answer?  How do we process that unknown?  How do we wrestle with that?

A dear friend of mine and I will many times get into a discussion about certain theology questions and we go round and round until we make ourselves dizzy.  And in the end we don’t have anymore of an answer after looking at Scripture than we did when we started!  It is frustrating and we wrestle together, but in the end, we just have to “give it up” as my friend would say, and let GOD handle it.  Isn’t that why HE is GOD and we are not?

When there are no answers let us stand on this promise from HIM…..

HEBREWS 4: 16 “THEREFORE, LET US APPROACH THE THRONE OF GRACE WITH BOLDNESS, SO THAT WE MAY RECEIVE MERCY AND FIND GRACE TO HELP US IN TIME OF NEED.”

There…….is……..always……..GRACE.

In the middle of our messy lives, down in all the pits and fits of confusion, disappointment and pain………

There is always………GRACE.

So when we wrestle, let us take our eyes off of ourselves for a minute…….and look vertical!  Who do we see?

To wrestle well means that no matter what I feel about my circumstances, that my faith continues to lead me above all else.  I don’t and won’t listen to anyone, including what the world dictates. 

May we only see the ONE who knows us, every hair on our heads HE counts and HE hears us in our wrestling!  HE hears us in the pit and HE knows our pain and doesn’t abandon us……..instead HE loves us!  Our GOD loves us so much that HE cannot leave us the way HE found us.  HIS nature is to only love and redeem.

ISAIAH 43: 1 “…….THE ONE WHO CREATED YOU, JACOB, AND THE ONE WHO FORMED YOU, ISRAEL, DO NOT FEAR FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU.”

Let us wrestle well and not fear, but let HIM lead and comfort us because HE WILL lead us in the way of righteousness and love for us.  And ultimately our faith will grow, mature and reach out and be an example to those precious souls around us!  

PSALM 32: 6 “THEREFORE LET EVERYONE WHO IS GODLY OFFER PRAYER TO YOU AT A TIME WHEN YOU MAY BE FOUND.”