Wrestling with God
Have you ever felt as if you have wrestled with God and won? Many times in
my life I have been faced with difficult decisions that would alter my future
for the good or the bad. There are times when I have made the right decisions.
There are also those times when I was too tired, too lonely, and too out of sorts
to listen to God and wisdom, making the wrong
decisions and bearing the consequences of my poor
choices. As entrepreneurs, spouses, and parents, we
face many critical decisions and must do whatever
is necessary to ensure our company’s survival—that
we live to see another day. At times this comes with
tremendous cost. When our honor is at stake we
must take a stand to ensure our integrity. This is not
always easy. Many lie, steal, and cheat their way into
the history books of success, but these actions will
always come back to bite us in the end. Some quit
and choose to camouflage their losses, facing the
depth of despair and loss of honor because they have
failed. But it is better to have tried and failed then
to have not attempted to live your dreams. Failure
is an option when faced with adversity—we call it
fight or flight in our martial arts class. At times it is
better to defend and run so you live to fight another
battle. But to be tempted to lie, cheat, and steal your
way into glory should not be an option. Jacob chose
a life of deceit and manipulation to achieve his goals.
But he was called to a greater purpose and he finally
saw the error of his ways and reconciled with God. He “wrestled with God”
and never gave up until God blessed him. Are you now struggling to find
your greater purpose in life? Wrestling with God and trying to decide which
direction to take? I have wrestled with God and born the consequences of my
mistakes. I now want to only choose the right path in order to better serve my
God, family, friends, and clients.
“Deep calls unto deep.”
Psalm 42:7.
What do you and I know of infinity, omnipresence, and self-existence? We are
far beyond our depth when we come to the ocean of divine purposes. We may
gaze into the mystery with awe, but to profess to comprehend it is vanity itself.
What a depth! What an inscrutable mystery how the universe works and even
how we were created. You who have done business in the immeasurable waters,
I speak to you. When a disheartened spirit unites with our outward afflictions;
when business troubles, family troubles, personal troubles and the world’s
troubles—all aided and abetted by temptation—challenge your moral code.
Do not think yourselves harshly dealt with, in being singled out as a special
target for the pains of grief. Do not wish that you could be the obscurest of all
the men and women searching for truth and serenity, to find some quiet recess
in which you might be left alone to take a break in forgetfulness! Rather, let
me remind you that if you experience a deep extraordinary trial, there is most
surely another deep answering to it. Open your ears and your hearts to hear
the calling of this deep unto deep.
vessel may easily be wrecked. But don’t forget there is another deep, whose
remembrance will remove from you the bitterness of your present sorrow. There
is a love that will never grow cold—immortal and unchanging love! When
you face your trials and tribulations you can grow stronger in knowing you are
not alone and that you can face anything. Some of
our paths in life are comparatively smooth. Others go
through fire and deep treacherous waters. Yours has
been a stormy and tried life. Well, I sympathize with
you—this publisher has been through the fire and has
learned to see life in a new way.
Great adversity will give us great strength. Unusual
suffering will give us great patience.
In proportion to your troubles will be your
consolations. If you have inconsequential sorrow,
you will receive minor grace. But if you have deep
afflictions, you will obtain the deeper proof of the
closeness of God! I could gladly lie down and quit
when I think of the trials of this life, but I persevere
through them all. I remember Kurt Vonnegut in
“Cat’s Cradle” when life was at its worst point the
main character states, “So it goes”.
We cannot control every aspect of our life, but what
we do have control over we should endeavor to ensure
that we never lose our soul and honor for the almighty dollar. There will
always be a way out and a better path to take. We should always step back
and take a learned approach to every situation and never feel forced to do
anything to jeopardize our lives or honor. There is nothing so important than
our love of God, family and self, that should cause us to lose our soul. So when
the trials of life come upon you, be prepared to face them with great faith and
perseverance. Never quit, always look to the brighter future, and seek God and
his wisdom when you are at the crossroads of life. We are all called to a higher
purpose and how we get there determines who we become.
Thomas Paine:
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we
obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives
everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can
gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the
business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose
conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”
Perhaps you have had a comparatively easy life until now, but you have reached
a turning point. Maybe you have fallen into poverty, your family is breaking
apart, your business has failed, your spouse has left you, or you are on the verge
of losing your home. Your friends have walked away one by one. You feel the
loneliness of life in this dreadful deep, and there is much to fear for your little
49 SUCCESS february 2010
february 2010 SUCCESS 49