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The Restrained God
A Theological Reflection on Genesis 32:22-32
    Traditional theism has held a very imperial and transcendent notion of God, viewing God as the being of unimaginable power, ruling over creation in a fearsome manner.  While God is powerful beyond our comprehension, God also chooses relationship with His  creation.  In the text of Genesis 32:22-32, the apparent weakness of God is immediately striking.  Jacob encounters a man, and they wrestle.  The match is very even, and goes on throughout the night, and at daybreak, the man �saw that he could not overpower [Jacob]� (v.25).  This statement is very shocking, but also very informative.  God comes to Jacob as a man (See Brueggemann, 266-7), a theophanic appearance.  God has chosen the form He will take to encounter Jacob.  And what form does God choose?  God chooses a man that is evenly matched with Jacob.  God was not an overpowering champion, imposing and untouchable in His strength.  Instead, He was just like Jacob.  God chose to allow a genuine struggle to occur with Jacob, through limiting His own power.  God was not just letting Jacob think he was winning, merely toying with him.  Instead, in the text, the struggle was real.  God, in the form of the man, had to ask to be let go (v. 26).  It would even appear that Jacob had the upper hand in the struggle at this point, and that the man was at Jacob�s mercy.  At the same time, though, we do not forget that the man wrestling with Jacob is God, for this man touches Jacob�s hip, wrenching it and crippling Jacob.  The struggle was genuine and real, but at the same time, it is apparent that God has been self-restrained in the encounter.  It would seem consistent with the text that God could have rendered Jacob crippled at any time, but did not do so until daybreak, at the close of the match.  This presents an element of restraint within the context of the even match. 
     God has chosen to truly wrestle with Jacob, not simply overpower him, and this restraint on the part of God leads to a blessing from God to Jacob.  Though he is wrestling with a limited and restrained God hidden in the form of a man of equal ability, Jacob is still able to affect God by the encounter.  Jacob realizes that a blessing from his opponent is something that he should seek after.  And God gives him a blessing and new name, which as Brueggemann points out, is a new identity.   The encounter moved God to bring about a change for Jacob, both in his limp and in his name.  The presence of both restraint and action by God demonstrates relationship.  In this account, God comes to earth in the form of a man, and struggles with Jacob.  This is a genuine interplay but God remains God through the encounter.  God seems to be at Jacob�s mercy, at least to some extent, asking to be let go (v.25), but Jacob does not control God.  God has not given up his �God-ness� in the encounter, though it is hidden.  God shows this by not giving in to all Jacob asks.  Jacob asks to know the name of his opponent, and God refuses.  God does give a blessing, but God is not being forced by Jacob to do something He (God) does not want to do.  Thus, it would seem that God has chosen to limit Himself in relationship with Jacob, but is not in complete submission to him. 
     What does this picture of a God who can be wrestled with mean for our picture of God?  This text lends itself well to a picture of God that includes divine self-limitation and restraint as a fundamental and important part of God�s relationship to the world.  In this encounter, God demonstrates a willingness to relate in weakness, allowing a true interplay and struggle to occur with Jacob.  This is a God who truly wants relationship, and wants a relationship of freedom.  God remains God, yet at the same time limits Himself in relationship to the world.  God does not simply overpower His people, coming as a conquering champion, but relates in weakness, limiting the divine in relationship with the human.  This calls immediately to mind the incarnation of Christ, and the idea of kenosis in Philippians 2.  In Christ, God empties or limits Himself.  A similar humbled (Phil. 2:8) openness is evident in the encounter with Jacob, as God takes on human form in a self-limiting way, while remaining God.  This idea of kenosis can also be instructive of how God relates to the world in general.  God limits Himself allowing creation to exist, and to exist in freedom, and in doing this God is open to a genuine relationship with His people.   God is the creator and sustainer of the world, yet millions of people have no awareness of it, and thousands have set out to prove or disprove that God exits, but none of their answers have been conclusive, for people still believe and still don�t believe.  In the end, it is left up to faith.  No irrefutable proof exists.  This is a sign of a self-limiting God, who desires true relationship with creation. 
     Jacob encounters God as a man, and struggles with Him.  We too can struggle with this God who chooses not to overpower.  God has chosen a relationship with the world that includes genuine freedom for the creation, and with this freedom, God has surrendered up a measure of His own power in faithfulness to the relationship.  God is open to struggles with us.  This does not remove God from the throne of Isaiah 6, but instead speaks of the gracious and loving way God has chosen to interact with us, His creatures.
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