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| Jacob Wrestling with God by Jack Baumgartner |
"But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all Your deeds."+ Psalm 73:28
During some seasons, it seems God wants to personally remind me of something that He has said to me before and I need to hear again.
Today was one of those days for me.
During a conversation with a friend during this season of Lent, the verse above was highlighted again shortly after I listened to a recollection of Nikos Kazantzakis' time at the monastery on Mount Athos (Greek Orthodox Church spiritual center since the 10th century). One moment in particular grabbed my attention when Kazantzakis engaged an old monk who had a reputation for holiness.
In light of the powerful Scripture verse above, which ends Psalm 73 (a psalm of wrestling with God), along with the profound story of Kazantzakis and the old monk at Mount Athos provided below, I am praying the Surrender Novena prayer again: "Jesus, I surrender; You take care of it." I continue to wrestle with Jesus as He turns my tables over again in His zeal for me as part of His Father's house (ex. John 2:13-22), remembering these words from Ronald Rolheiser:
We would do well to integrate this,
the concept of wrestling with God,
into our understanding of faith and prayer.
We honor neither ourselves
nor the scriptures
when we make things too simple. ...
... the heart has complexities
that need to be respected,
even as we try to rein in
its more possessive longings.
God, who built us,
understands this
and is up to the task of
wrestling with us and our resistance.
The classical mystics speak of something
they call “being bold with God”.
This “boldness”, they suggest,
comes not at the beginning
of the spiritual journey,
but more towards the end of it,
when, after a long period of fidelity,
we are intimate enough with God
to precisely be “bold”,
as friends who have known each other
for a long time have a right to be.
"I Wrestle with God and I Hope to Lose!"
At Mount Athos in Report to Greco
by Nikos Kazantzakis
As a young man,
I spent a summer in a monastery
during which I had
a series of conversations with an old monk.
One day I asked the old monk:
“Father, do you still do battle with the devil?”
The old monk replied:
“No, I used to, when I was younger,
but now I have grown old and tired and
the devil has grown old and tired with me.
I leave him alone and he leaves me alone.”
“So your life is easy then?”
I remarked.
“Oh no,” replied the monk,
“it’s much worse,
now I wrestle with God!”
“You wrestle with God,”
I said surprised,
“and hope to win?”
“No,” replied the old monk,
“I wrestle with God and I hope to lose!”
For more posts on wrestling with God:
May God's Kingdom come, His will be done.
Que le Royaume de Dieu vienne,
que sa volonté soit faite.
愿神的国降临，愿神的旨意成就。
Nguyện xin Nước Chúa đến, ý Ngài được nên.
Jesús nuestra Rey, venga Tu reino!
🙏💗🍞🍷👑🌅🌇
With wild grace and holy shalom,
Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan
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