What I've Learned: God wants to wrestle

In Genesis, when Jacob is walking all over the place with his family and sheep and stuff, there comes a point where he randomly goes off by himself and literally wrestles with God.

WHAT?

Yeah, that would've been a sight to see. And what's even crazier, is that until God cheats, Jacob is totally holding his own! (Just kidding God, I know you didn't cheat....)
Anyway, it's after this that God gives Jacob a new name- Israel.

I want to talk about two things:
1. Wrestling
2. Getting a new name

I'm a big fan of wrestling. Sometimes you just have to take out your pent up aggression on someone else. I've wrestled a lot of people- usually I lose, because i'm so small, but still.
I have this weird thing where I equate wrestling as a great father-son thing. I think it's because the son challenges the dad to see if he is "man" enough to take him, and the dad gives his kid a good chance- until he dominates him and puts him in his place hahaha. It's such a masculine way of affirming a kid's manhood. I love it.
So isn't it cool that God wrestled with Jacob? I think about how close God was to him, how Jacob could smell God's sweat and hear his breath. God was literally wrestling with him. And then- He let Jacob have a chance. He affirmed him, showed him that he was a man after God's heart, before pinning him down and reminding him that God is in control and will always win. It didn't strike me until now what a great image of a father God played then.

And then, after the wrestling match, God gave Jacob a new name. Israel- one who contends with God. The giving of a new name is something God does a lot in the Bible, and is used when He is blessing someone. This is also a great picture of a father. By giving someone a name, God is claiming them as His- He is saying, "you belong to me, and I love you."

So now i'm thinking about this wrestling match with Jacob in a whole new way. Now I see that God is being a Father, wrestling with His son and claiming Him as His own. I love this idea, that God wants to get up close and personal with us, He wants to wrestle with us, show us that we have what it takes to do what He has asked us- and then put us in our place. I love the idea that He is waiting to name us, to say, "You are mine, and I love you." I love the idea that He is far from distant- that He is actively involved in shaping who we are, the He is wrestling with us all the time, and that He wants us to wrestle with Him.

I love the idea that I can see my God as a Father.