"Wrestling with God in prayer." You've heard the phrase. It goes back to the patriarch Jacob, when he met God in a defining moment. Alone and in crisis, Jacob wrestled all night with "a man". This "man" was in fact a heavenly being, because after the struggle Jacob said, "I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." Genesis 32:30.

We know we should pray, but should we also "wrestle in prayer"?

It depends! We must remember what led to Jacob's awful night. Years before, he conspired to deceive his brother Esau and steal the birthright blessing. It was a case of a man trying to take over God's work and do it for him—with terrible results. Now, when Jacob learns that Esau is headed his way, he is swamped by fear. He and his loved ones may die.

Jacob's wrestling is with God, but in a deeper sense it is with himself. It is his sin—his guilt, his remorse, his foreboding—that forces him into confrontation with God. The issue on which Jacob has previously failed, and which he has since ignored, must now be dealt with. Will he surrender his will to God and let God bring deliverance? Or, will he again fail the test and try to get the blessing by human effort and manipulation?

Jacob fights long and hard, yielding nothing. As daybreak nears, God decides that only a surgical strike will work. He touches Jacob's hip and puts it out of joint. It is then—disabled, defeated and helpless—that Jacob is able to pray the desperate prayer of one under deep conviction: "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

The struggle finished, Jacob limps out in pain to face his brother. This time, he has no strength in himself but all strength in God. There is a touching, unexpected reconciliation! Jacob's situation and his character are transformed. He is no longer Jacob the "usurper". Now he is Israel—the "godly ruler".

Jacob's experience teaches us that agonising does not persuade God, nor does it win against him. We have a choice. We can come quickly to surrender, or we can agonise. The struggle is in ourselves—in our misperceptions, in our straying wills, or in the common frailties of humanity. Oswald Chambers observed that if we wrestle directly with God, we may compel him to put us out of joint.*

The normal life of prayer is not wrestling, but resting. When we are surrendered to God and in tune with his will, we may confidently bring our needs to him, and calmly expect that he hears and answers. We do not wrestle; we simply believe, and we leave our issues in his hands. This is the way of faith.

And yet, even the sinless Jesus had his night of agony in prayer. The everyday record of Jesus' ministry shows what is typical—simple request, calm faith, and confident expectation. But Gethsemane, where our Saviour's soul was troubled and overwhelmed with sorrow, shows that when enormous outcomes are at stake, a critical night of travail might be necessary.

Elijah, in the crisis on Mount Carmel, "bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees". 1 Kings 18:42. This was a posture typical at that time for women giving birth. Elijah's prayer was "earnest" or "fervent", a travailing in prayer that gave birth to mighty victory and reformation. James 5:17.

The apostle Paul knew about wrestling in intercessory prayer. Perplexed about the Galatian believers and their deviation from the Gospel, he wrote, "My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. . . ." Galatians 4:19. Paul spoke approvingly of a disciple named Epaphras, who was "always wrestling in prayer for you". Colossians 4:12. And with the believers in Rome, Paul shared a mystery of prayer—that the Spirit of God travails within us, interceding "with groans that words cannot express". Romans 8:26.

For all who weep and wrestle in prayer, there is this encouraging promise: "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." Psalm 126:5, 6.
 

* My Utmost for His Highest, reading for Dec. 16.

This article first appeared in modified form in Mid-America Outlook, September 2005. Copyright © 2009 by Ed Gallagher (South Pacific edition). / Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission.