Just Call Me Israel

I am a facebook junkie as most of you know. I spend a lot of time on there as I am such a people person and it's pretty much the easiest way for me to keep up with my friends that are all over the state and country and even in other countries. Anyway, yesterday this is what I wrote on my facebook status: doesn't really like grappling with faith issues but I am definitely willing to do it to find truth! I am definitely in the throes of a wrestling match as I am seeking God's truth about a situation in my life. Thankfully, I am not the first and I am sure I won't be the last!

In Genesis 32: 24-28 we read the story of Jacob wrestling with God. Here it is for your convenience:
^24-25 But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint.

 ²⁶ The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak."
   Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me."
 ²⁷ The man said, "What's your name?"
   He answered, "Jacob."
 ²⁸ The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through."

I love verse 28! God changes Jacob's name which meant "deceiver" to Israel which means "God wrestler". It is my experience with decievers that they themselevs are deceived or they deceive so much that they no longer know truth or remember truth. Right now, I can relate. Not that I have been deceiving others but that I have been deceived myself and I am fighting for truth. Fighting to find God in my circumstances and situations. Just like Jacob, I am wrestling with God, not in the physical sense but in the mental and spiritual recesses of my soul. While I am still in the throes of this match, I love the hope that I find at the end of verse 28: "you've wrestled with God and you've come through!" I will come through and I'll get a new name in the process!

What do you need to wrestle with God about? What have you wrestled with God about? What is God wrestling with you about? Keep fighting for truth friends as truth has the ability to set us free!!