Wrestling is a strange image of prayer. If you read some of the pieces written about prayer today, it seems even more strange.
They tell us (rightly) that prayer is about intimacy and relationship, about knowing God. The Bible’s image of wrestling suggests instead conflict and hard work. It may be an intimate way to fight, but it isn’t sweet. This kind of fighting is sweaty, painful – and all about endurance.
Knowing God
Prayer, I’ve heard good Reformed people say recently, isn’t about a list of requests but is about knowing God. I don’t want to argue with any of them. Prayer is the most amazing gift, a precious means of drawing close to God in rejoicing and lament and aligning our will to His. It’s a space in which we can meditate on the mind-blowing truths of Scripture and know our hearts examined and expanded. But prayer is also about asking for things, for ourselves, and (perhaps especially) for others.
Shall we all stop having babies?
Despite the resurgence of Covid-19 with its danger and inconveniences, other questions which dominated the news last year are also …