Wrestling (mis)Match

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Biblegate
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Wrestling (mis)Match

Post by Biblegate » Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:21 pm

If you get into a wrestling match with God, guess who's going to win? Right; God always wins. That's what Jacob learned when he limped away from a mismatch with God. God crippled his leg, but changed his life.

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Paidion
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Re: Wrestling (mis)Match

Post by Paidion » Sun Mar 18, 2018 2:53 pm

It puzzles me why you think Jacob lost the match. Here is the account:
Genesis 32
24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
So Jacob was beaten in the match when the man put Jacob's hip out of joint. Right? WRONG
26 Then he [the man] said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me."
27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."
28 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed."
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

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Biblegate
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Re: Wrestling (mis)Match

Post by Biblegate » Mon Mar 19, 2018 1:58 am

Paidion wrote:It puzzles me why you think Jacob lost the match
In his response to the caller, Steve did not say that Jacob lost his struggle with God. In the description of the call, it was not said that Jacob lost his struggle with God.

So, your inference that it was thought that Jacob lost the match must be based on the statement, "God always wins." But how is that untrue?

The fact is that Jacob walked away from a struggle with a "man" who humbled him not only by permanently crippling his leg but also by permanently changing his name. If the results were reversed, it would be fair to say that "the man" had not won. Would it be inaccurate to say that "the man" had lost? What Jacob gained in the struggle was a better name and a better relationship with God. He received a painful and humiliating attitude adjustment, which made Jacob a better man. In that, he was a winner. Similarly, when I became a Christian, I lost the lordship of my life, but I gained the Lord of my life. Did I receive a blessing when I surrendered and submitted to Christ? You bet! I lost, but I won.

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