Wrestling With God

Last updated on: February 22, 2022 at 3:50 am by Henry Karlson

Wrestling With God 2022-02-22T03:50:55-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Jim Forest: St Moses the Ethiopian /Flickr

Scripture is full of examples of those who were promised great things by God and yet found their lives to be full of struggles. Their difficulties, or the struggles of those around them, often had them wrestling with God. Some, like Job, felt as if God had abandoned them and so they wrestled with God in order to try to make sense of their experiences. Others wrestled with God so as to find God’s mercy, if not for themselves, than for others. We can see this in the way Moses argued with God so that God would not obliterate the people of Israel (cf. Ex. 32:9-14). Scripture shows us that God gave various responses to such inquiries: what response Job received differed from the way God responded to Moses. God gave more to Moses than Job because Moses was concerned not only for himself, but for others. Indeed, Scripture often suggests that God will give more to those who search for and fight for the rights of others than those who only look for and seek for some good for themselves.

God wants us to be so concerned with others that we will be willing to fight for their needs; God wants to draw us out of ourselves, so that we no longer are self-centered. Our lamentations, our cries to God, when they come out of love, a love which looks beyond ourselves but for others, is a higher kind of wrestling with God than when all we are concerned about is ourselves and our own wants and needs.

God must not be seen as some sort of genie who will grant us our every wish, our every desire. This is not because God cannot and will not help us, but because God truly desires to help us, which means, God has made room for us to act and reaction, to make mistakes and learn from them. God does not want us to be overly reliant upon divine intervention God want us to grow, to make sure we do not become slothful, expecting God to do all those things for us which we can and should do ourselves. Indeed, if everything was simply given to us, we would find our lives would be worthless, as there would be little to no meaning to our actions. However, this does not mean God leaves us without any help; how much help we get and what kind it is seems to be dictated by many variables, too many for us to know and understand this side of the eschaton.

What we must realize is that we need our own space so that we can truly do meaningful actions in the world. Through what we do, we develop ourselves and our relationships with others, including God. For what we do with that space, what we focus on in that space, will be reflected in our relationships; will we take the opportunity given to us and become more like Job, aiming to do what is just but still focusing on ourselves, or will we become like Moses, looking after and being more concerned about others than our own well-being? In truth, the more we grow, the more we develop our relationships, it is likely we will become more and more like Moses. This is because the more we wrestle with God, the more we will find God’s actions help develop and shape us to become more loving, reflecting the image and likeness of God within us. This is exactly what we see happened with another Moses, St Moses the Ethiopian, who once was a runaway slave turned brigand acting only for his own benefit, but later became a Christian, a monk, and a holy man whose focus was on transforming himself so that he could become a man who took care of others more than himself.

Many of the stories and sayings connected to Moses the Ethiopian show us one of the many ways this transformation took effect in his life. We can see this, for example, in the way Moses thought mercy should be shown to all because of the mercy he once received. We also see this in the way he came to believe God would take care of others in and through his own work in the world, and if it appeared God was not doing so, Moses would wrestle with God to make sure God would do so:

It was said of Abba Moses at Scetis that when he had arranged to go to Petra, he grew tired in the course of his journey and said to himself: ‘How can I find the water I need there?’ Then a voice said to him, ‘Go, and do not be anxious about anything.’ So he went. Some Fathers came to see him and he had only a small bottle of water. He used it all up in the cooking of lentils for them. The old man was worried, so he went in and came out of his cell, and he prayed to God, and a cloud of rain came to Petra and filled all the cisterns. After this, the visitors said to the old man, ‘Tell us why you went in and out?’ The old man said to them, ‘I was arguing with God, saying “you brought me here and now I have no water for your servants.” This is why I was going in and out; I was going on at God till he sent us some water.’[1]

God loves us and wants the best for us. This sometimes is hard for us to realize because we have often been given a bad representation of who God is, one in which God appears to be a tyrant looking for any excuse to condemn us. But part of what is best for us can be difficult for us to understand because it means making room for us to act as we should wish. God loves us like a parent, and for this reason, seeks to give us our own agency. As we are given space to develop ourselves, to grow, we should grow in love, and when we do so, our growth will lead us to becoming concerned more about others than ourselves. Our engagement with God, our wrestling with God, will reflect much about us and how much we have or have not grown.

The more agency we have been given in the world, the more we will find that it has been given to us so that we can and should do what we can for the good of others. While we can and should pray for them, we should not think that frees us from doing our part to help them as well. Thus St. Moses the Ethiopian cooked lentils, giving what he had made to those who were in need. God provided what Moses could not, that is God, provided Moses with the water he needed, but without Moses using it to cook the lentils, the water would not have been enough to provide for the welfare of those who were with Moses. Likewise, we too must make sure we act with what is given to us, and use it for the greater good. If we grow in charity, and so in grace, we will find we will truly be able to move mountains, and extraordinary things will be done even in and through simple actions (like cooking lentils). But this will not happen if we become complacent, if we just accept things as they are, or how they were in the past; we must wrestle for positive change. When we do so, we will find how we wrestle with God will also change so that we will find ourselves no longer contending with God, but rather, we will find God is at our side, adding the strength and power of the divinity to our actions, so that we truly will make a difference in the world.

[1] The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Trans. Benedicta Ward (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1984), 141 [Saying of Abba Moses 13].

Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook.
If you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family!

Saint Moses the Black

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Previous Post

February 20, 2022

The Judgment Of Love

Next Post

February 23, 2022 Baptism Is An Act Of Faith And Not An Act Of Magic

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abraham abuse Aesthetics AI Aliens Ambrose Ancestors and Everything Andrew Angels Animals Anne Anthony Antisemitism apologetics Apophatic Apostle John Aquinas Artificial Intelligence Asanga Ascension Asceticism Assumption Atheism Attachment Augustine Authority Avarice Balthasar Baptism Beauty Biden birthright citizenship Bishops Black History Books Buddhism Bulgakov Byzantine Calendar C.S. Lewis Calcidius Catholic Catholicism Catholicism Celibacy Charity Chastity children Chrismation Christ Christmas Christology Church Climate Change Common Good Communion Confession Confirmation Conscience Constantine conventions conversion councils Covid Creation Cross Dead Death Death Penalty Debate Deception Demagogues Demons Desert Monks Desert Mothers Desire destruction development Dialogue Dignity Dionsyius Dionysius Discipline Diversity Division Doctor Who doctrine dogma Dormition Dualism Easter Easter Series Ecumenical Councils Ecumenism Education Election Empathy Environment Error Eschatology eschaton Eternity Ethics Eucharist Evangelism Eve Evil evolution Faeries Faith Fear femininity Ficino Florence Florensky Folktale Fools Forgiveness Freedom Future gender Gentile Gentiles Glory Gnostic God gods Good Samaritan Goodness Gospel Government Grace Great Fast Guns Hate healing Health Heaven Hell Hellenism Heresy Hierarchy Hildegard Hinduism History Holiness Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Horror Human rights humanity Humility hypocrisy ICE icon icons Identification Identity Idol II Nicea Immigration incarnation Individualism Informal Reflections Inklings Intention Inter-Religious Interfaith Internet Interpretation Intrinsic evil Irenaeus Islam Israel Jacob Jerome Jesus Jews John Chrysostom John of Damascus John the Baptist Joseph Judaism justice Justification kenosis Kindnesss Kingdom of God Kingdom of Heaven Law Law of Moses Lazarus Leaf by Niggle Lent Lenten Reflection Liberation Theology Lies Life Listen Literature Liturgy locutions Logic Logos Love Marriage Martyrs Mary Mass Maximos The Confessor Meanness Meditation Mercy Middle Path Migrants Mind Miracles Miriam Morals Moses Movies Music Muslims Myths Names Nationalism Native Americans New Year Nicea Nicholas Nothing Novatian Obedience Occam's Razor Ordination Origen Original Sin Orthodox orthopraxis Pagans Palamas Palm Sunday Paradise Paschaltide Paul Peace Pentecost person Peter piety PKD Plato pluralism Plurality Poem Poetry Poiltics Politics Poor Pope Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV Post Office Prayer Pride Pro-life Prodigal Son propaganda Prophecy Prophets Providence Putin Racism Reading Reason Reflection Refugees Relationships Religion Religion Series Religious Liberty Repent Republicans Rest Resurrection Rich Rites Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation Salvian Santa Science Scripture Self-Giving Sexuality Sibyl Sick Silence Sin Singlehood Social Justice Society Sodom Solovyov Speculations Spiritual Reflection St. Cyril of Alexandria St. Justin Martyr Suffering Sunday of the Paralytic Man Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Superhero Supreme Court Teaching Technology Thanksgiving The Father the Universe Theological Reflection Theology Theosis Theotokos Thomas Timaeus Time Tolerenace Tolkien Tradition Transfiguration Trinity Trump Truth Uncategorized Unity Universities USCCB Value Vatican II Vegetarian Vices Violence Virtue Vocations War Water Welcome Wisdom Womanhood Women Work World View Worship Writing Zacchaeus

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz