By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“For any one group today to think it has the best grasp on the creator of the universe is a form of insanity. Run away – far and quickly – when you see this.” –  Peter Enns

When I was away at college, every Monday night, all the guys in my suite would pack into one of the dorm rooms and gather around the TV to watch WWE wrestling.

I had never seen professional wrestling before college but watching it as a group built an excitement and a comradery amongst my suitemates that was unmatched by any other activity. We’d sit on the edge of our seats clapping and cheering, booing and groaning along with the audience on the TV.

As I reminisced about those times amassed around the television on Monday night, I thought about the fact that so much of our Christian life is spent in the wrestling. I don’t think any Christ-follower can go through life without meeting Jesus in the ring time and time again.

We wrestle about many different things. Think about Scripture. Have you ever read something in the Bible that didn’t fit in with your picture of God, that you didn’t agree with, that contradicted something you thought you knew? Or even still, have you ever wrestled with someone else regarding the interpretation of Scripture? There’s a wrestling match that occurs in the midst of Scripture; Scripture that is inspired by a God that escapes full understanding. If our minds are unable to comprehend the full scope of our infinite and powerful God, why do we expect to understand the entirety of His Word?

There are some things in the Bible that can’t fully be understood on this side of Heaven, and I think that’s okay. Our mindset needs to change concerning how we read some parts of Scripture. You see, Jewish scholars see Scripture as something that seeks to be understood. Like a problem that must be debated and solved. They study and argue, search and struggle. But to the Jews, God is found in the struggle. He’s in the debates and the search. It is in the wrestling that they find unity.

Wrestling with God’s Word causes us to look more closely at who He is. The tension in Scripture forces us to lean into Him for the answer. Not finding clear, black and white answers in Scripture enables us to call upon God in prayer for the answers to life’s questions.

I think that God’s Word is not complex and unclear at times by mistake, I think it is by design. It is so God can speak through it to different people in different ways. It is so we are forced to delve deeper and deeper into Scripture to find out who He is. Wrestling with Scripture is essential in God’s formation of us.

He’s calling out to us:

Read my Word. Search in it. Dig into it. Ask questions. Seek answers. Wrestle with it. Lean on Me. Inquire of me. Seek me. Become like me. Find me.