God fights for us, and God fights WITH us….

It is pleasant to think about God fighting my battles for me. “Be not afraid nor dismayed….. for the battle is not yours, but God's.”(2Ch. 20:15)

I don’t always retreat from the battlefield and let Him take command. Often, I call Him in to fight it, and then give Him orders in the heat of the battle, staying right where I was, assuming that I am in charge.

Sometimes I don’t see Him slaying enough enemies, or bringing enough blood. He doesn’t always fight as cruelly as I’d like. How can you win if you don’t severely hurt the enemy?

I find comfort in His promise, then don’t give Him permission and opportunity to fulfill them.

I look back and see His Fingerprints on my life, I see the battle scars I have suffered. I see the victories I have celebrated, often after a very long and difficult battle.

As I sit quietly with Him, thinking about these things, this verse comes up in some reading….

“When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.” (Gen. 32:25)

God has fought for me. And God has fought with me.

He prefers not to do so, but will wrestle with me when my will is not bent to His. He knows what it will take. He knows if I will surrender, and if I will….He will do whatever it takes to bring that about.

I purpose to be easily surrendered to His will over mine. My desire is to fully trust and rely on Him as my first Defense. I want to be free of fear and dismay over battles that I seem to be losing.

Yet like Jacob, I purpose to hold onto Him relentlessly until “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” (Gen. 32:30)