Wrestling Well

Originally written for 5th April 2020

How are you feeling this morning?  I wonder what feelings and emotions you may be wrestling with.  Are you good at expressing them?  Do you push them down and away and try not to feel them?  Do you sit with them for a time and try to understand them?  Are you aware of how you are feeling or are you trying to not feel?  Like me, do you sometimes struggle with conflicting emotions? - Fear, doubt, hope, joy, peace, anxiety, excitement, anticipation, trust, disappointment, sadness, gratefulness, longing, restlessness - just some of the ones I have experienced in recent weeks!  Sometimes all in a very short space of time!

If you are willing to, please take a moment now to pause and become aware of how you are feeling right this moment.  I am aware that for some this may be uncomfortable and for others this will be a normal practice, but can I encourage you to give it a try?  (if you’re interested here is a list of emotions that you may experience and might help to give a word to what you are feeling. Try not to run from the feelings but acknowledge them.  Tell the Lord exactly how you are feeling.  You may think He already knows and does not need you to tell Him!  He does know, but He longs for us to come to Him as His dear children and to tell Him.  He knows we will be scared, worried, uncertain and more at times and so we are encouraged in His Word in 1 Peter 5:7 to “ Throw the whole of your anxiety upon Him, because He Himself cares for you.”  (Weymouth New Testament) He cares for us!  He can handle our anxieties – all of them!

Revelation 21:3-5 uses feeling words to describe the world we are currently living in.  See if you can notice what they are:

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look!  God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them.  They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”  Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

What did you notice? Death, mourning, crying and pain.  All of us will experience these harsh realities, but this passage lifts our eyes to the God who is with us now by His Spirit and to the future time where these painful emotions will be no more.

 “…all those harsh realities aren’t the end, but rather a temporary middle space.  Not the place where we are to wallow and dwell.  Rather the place through which we will have to learn to wrestle well.  I need this wrestling.  I have honest feelings where I want to throw my hands up in utter frustration and yell about the unfairness of it all.  To deny my feelings any voice is to rob me of being human.  But to let my feelings be the only voice will rob my soul of healing perspectives with which God wants to comfort me and carry me forward.  My feeling and my faith will almost certainly come into conflict with each other.  My feelings see rotten situations as absolutely unnecessary hurt that stinks.  My soul sees it as fertiliser for a better future.  Both these perspectives are real.  And they yank me in different directions with never-ending wrestling.  To wrestle well means acknowledging my feelings but moving forward letting my faith lead the way.”  (Lysa Terkeurst ‘It’s Not Supposed to be this Way’, pg 8-9)

One day God will make everything new!  But, right now, let’s seek to wrestle well knowing that God is with us and He is faithful and will comfort us.  Not ignoring our feelings, but putting them in their rightful place.  Speak to God and let His truth speak louder than our fears and doubts.  If you are living with family or a flatmate can I encourage you to also share together how you are feeling and pray together reminding each other of God’s faithfulness to you.  If, like me, you are living by yourself, why not contact a good friend that you can share and pray with?  Let’s wrestle together, encouraging one another, knowing that it is ok to feel these emotions, but sometimes we need someone to walk with us and help us to navigate them in a healthy way and to lift our eyes up to God and away from ourselves.  One day, as Revelation reminds us, God will wipe away our tears!  Wrestle well knowing God is with us in our wrestling and that He gives us hope for this life and the next. 

Song:  God Knows the Way by Don Moen