Greece where the recent Olympic Games were held was the birthplace of this competition with the first recorded event staged in 776 BC. The Word of God often mentions these ancient games for our learning as we see the athletes working so hard to obtain a corruptible crown but we are to strive to obtain an incorruptible crown. There are a number of sports mentioned in the Bible from which we can learn lessons about the Christian life.

There are two kinds of wrestling matches in the Bible. God wrestling with man (Genesis 32:24-29) and man wrestling with the Devil (Ephesians 6:12).

In Genesis 32 we have the greatest wrestling match in history with the greatest contestants. It lasted many hours until the dawn of day. We often speak of Jacob wrestling but the Scriptures says that "there wrestled a man with him" (Genesis 32:24) and this man was the Son of God (Genesis 32:30) It was God who started the wrestling match. Why did this most unusual event take place?

Jacob’s life had reached a time of great crisis. He was forced to leave his uncle Laban and coming to meet him was Esau with four hundred men. Esau had promised to kill him twenty years before. He was in great distress in his life. All the clever schemes for which he is famous could not work now. He was alone with God and that night he had to learn to completely trust the Lord to bless him.

Jacob had come to an end of himself and it was in this crisis that the Lord wrestled with him. Jacob would not stop struggling so the Lord had to break him by putting his thigh out of joint. Now Jacob was utterly helplessness and just clung onto the Lord not letting go till he received a blessing.

Jacob wanted a blessing just as he did earlier when he tried to deceive his father by pretending to be Esau. The Lord asks him the same question as his father did but Jacob cannot fool the Lord. Jacob admits his name and therefore admits his character – he was a supplanter.

In the Christian life we too need to learn the lesson of complete dependence upon the Lord. It does not come easily because our old nature is like Jacob. We have too much fight in us. We want to go our own way still. We think our plans are better than the Lord’s. The Lord wrestles with us through the struggles we go through until we are where He wants us. Like Jacob, He wants us alone with Him in prayer. He wants us to cast ourselves in faith upon Him confessing our weakness. He wants us to cling to Him and not let go till He blesses us.

The other instance of wrestling in the Bible is found in Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Here the believer does the wrestling. The Christian life is a constant warfare against the Devil and his hosts. The Devil’s great aim is make the Christian lose faith in God. As the Lord Jesus said to Peter, "I have prayed for thee that they faith fail not" (Luke 22:32)

Satan seeks to destroy our faith in God by casting fiery arrows of doubt, fear and anxiety into our hearts in an evil day when we are weak. He will attack the believer who fails to put on the Armour of God. The believer becomes inward looking, earthly minded, depressed, anxious and fretful rather than calmly trusting in God in the midst of trails. The armour of God must always be put on and we shall be able to wrestle against the foe when he attacks us.

We are to be standing waiting for him by putting on the whole armour of God. Some think that the items in the armour mentioned are what we do but it is clear that no self manufactured armour could stand against the Devil. Some think that the breastplate of righteousness is our own righteous life but Satan would make short work of that by reminding us of all the sins we have done. The girdle or belt of truth is not our truthfulness for Satan would soon remind us of lies and hypocrisy in the life. The items of armour are God’s providing. The righteousness is what we received when we were saved and we stand perfect before God regardless of how often we fail. The hymn writer put it so well when he wrote – "I hear the accuser roar of ills that I have done. I know them all and thousands more but Jehovah findeth none"

When we keep in mind our position before God, Satan cannot shake us for it is by grace we stand in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 3)

Milo, six time wrestling champion at the ancient Olympic games, was possessed of near-Herculean strength. He once came upon an immense tree trunk in which some woodmen, apparently unable to split it, had left a wedge-like tool. Milo, attempting to split the trunk with his bare hands, must have been shocked when the wedge sprang out and the trunk closed upon his hands. Thus trapped, he was soon found - and proved no match for - a pack of wolves.

The Bible warns "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1Corinthians 10:12) Brokenness, humility and dependence upon God are the keys to winning the wrestling with the hosts of evil.

To be continued…