Wrestling With Torah Is Deeply Jewish - Finding Messiah in The Struggle
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A powerful Messianic Jewish sermon exploring why wrestling with Torah is deeply Jewish, how Yeshua honors the struggle, and how questions, doubt, and obedience lead to transformation. Rooted in the Old Testament and the Gospels only.
Quick Summary
Wrestling with Torah is not rebellion — it is covenant engagement.
Our father Jacob wrestled and was renamed Israel — “one who wrestles with God.”
The prophets wrestled. David wrestled. Even faithful Jews in Yeshua’s day wrestled.
Yeshua did not silence struggle — He fulfilled Torah and invited deeper obedience.
Honest wrestling produces transformation, blessing, and intimacy with God.
If you feel tension with Torah, you are not failing — you are participating in your inheritance.
A Story That Still Echoes in the Night
It was 2:00 a.m.
A Jewish father sat at his kitchen table, Tanakh open, the Gospel open beside it. His coffee was cold. His heart was hot.
He whispered:
“Adonai… I love Your Torah. But I don’t understand everything. I want to honor You. I want to follow Yeshua. But I feel the tension.”
His fingers traced the words of Jacob’s story.
He felt it.
The struggle.
The push and pull between tradition and revelation. Between obedience and understanding. Between fear and faith.
And then he read:
“And Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.” — Genesis 32:24
He closed his eyes.
“Maybe,” he whispered, “this wrestling is not a failure. Maybe this is what it means to be Israel.”
And everything changed.
Wrestling Is Our Name
We must begin with something foundational.
Israel does not mean “perfect.”
Israel does not mean “always certain.”
Israel means:
“For you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” — Genesis 32:28
To wrestle is not to reject.
To wrestle is to cling.
Jacob did not run from the Man.
He did not curse Him.
He held on and said:
“I will not let You go unless You bless me!” — Genesis 32:26
That is Jewish faith.
Not passive compliance.
Not detached philosophy.
But covenant wrestling.
Why We Feel the Tension Today
Many Messianic Jews experience internal conflict:
How do we honor Torah and follow Yeshua?
Is questioning dangerous?
What does obedience look like now?
Are we betraying tradition — or fulfilling it?
These are not modern questions.
They are ancient.
Even in the days of Yeshua, there was debate, interpretation, wrestling.
And Yeshua did not rebuke the wrestling.
He redirected it.
Yeshua and Torah: Not Cancellation — Fulfillment
Listen carefully to His words:
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” — Matthew 5:17
He did not say:
“Ignore it.”
“Replace it.”
“Despise it.”
He said fulfill.
The Greek word plēroō implies bringing to fullness, completing purpose, filling up meaning.
Yeshua intensifies Torah:
“You have heard that it was said… But I say to you…” — Matthew 5:21–22
He moves from external compliance to heart transformation.
That is not abandonment.
That is deepening.
Wrestling Is How We Go Deeper
Consider King David.
David loved Torah passionately.
“Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” — Psalm 119:97
But David also wrestled.
He cried:
“How long, O Lord?” — Psalm 13:1
He questioned.
He lamented.
He argued.
And yet he clung.
The prophets wrestled.
Jeremiah questioned God’s justice.
Habakkuk demanded answers.
This is covenant intimacy.
A distant God does not invite wrestling.
Only a relational God does.
The Fear of Questioning
Many believers secretly fear:
“If I wrestle, will God reject me?”
But remember:
Jacob limped away blessed.
He was marked — but renamed.
The limp was evidence of encounter.
Some of us are limping spiritually because we have wrestled honestly.
That limp is not shame.
It is testimony.
Yeshua Welcomes the Wrestler
Look at how Yeshua handled difficult seekers.
A Torah teacher approached Him:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” — Matthew 22:36
Yeshua did not dismiss the Torah expert.
He answered from Torah:
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…’” — Deuteronomy 6:5
“‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” — Leviticus 19:18
“On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” — Matthew 22:37–40
He did not abolish.
He revealed the core.
Love as the fulfillment of covenant.
When Torah Feels Heavy
Let’s be honest.
Sometimes Torah feels:
Complicated
Demanding
Culturally layered
Misunderstood
But Yeshua says:
“My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” — Matthew 11:30
He does not say “no yoke.”
He says His yoke.
The image is rabbinic.
A yoke is a teacher’s interpretation of Torah.
Yeshua invites us into His way of carrying it.
Not legalism.
Not abandonment.
Relationship.
Problem-Solving: What Do I Do With My Wrestling?
Here is the practical path.
1. Stay in the Text
Do not leave Torah when confused.
Stay.
Jacob stayed.
Blessing came at dawn.
2. Bring Your Questions to God
“Call to Me, and I will answer you.” — Jeremiah 33:3
God does not fear inquiry.
3. Look at Torah Through Messiah’s Lens
Yeshua says:
“If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.” — John 5:46
Messiah is not against Moses.
He is Moses’ fulfillment.
4. Obey What You Understand
Faithfulness grows in clarity.
5. Allow Transformation
Wrestling changes us.
It humbles us.
It marks us.
The Danger of Not Wrestling
The real spiritual danger is not struggle.
It is apathy.
Indifference is not Jewish.
The Bereans searched daily (Acts is Paul — cannot use). So avoid.
Instead, remember:
“These people draw near with their mouths… but their heart is far from Me.” — Isaiah 29:13
External compliance without internal wrestling produces distance.
God desires heart engagement.
Wrestling and Identity
When Jacob wrestled, he received a new name.
Israel.
Identity came through struggle.
Some of us want identity without engagement.
But covenant identity is forged in tension.
Even Yeshua in Gethsemane wrestled:
“O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” — Matthew 26:39
That is holy wrestling.
Submission through agony.
If the Messiah Himself wrestled in prayer, how can we despise our own struggle?
Torah Written on the Heart
The prophets foresaw something deeper:
“I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts.” — Jeremiah 31:33
Internalization.
Transformation.
Not removal — inscription.
Yeshua embodies this promise.
He confronts the heart:
Anger
Lust
Pride
Hypocrisy
He takes Torah from stone tablets to living flesh.
Wrestling Produces Blessing
Jacob said:
“I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” — Genesis 32:30
Encounter.
Preservation.
Renaming.
That is the pattern.
Wrestling is not the opposite of faith.
It is mature faith.
Frequently Asked Questions (Because This Is How People Search Today)
Is it wrong to question Torah?
No. Covenant history shows questioning leads to deeper obedience.
Does following Yeshua mean abandoning Torah?
Yeshua Himself said He did not come to destroy it (Matthew 5:17).
Why does Torah feel harder after believing in Yeshua?
Because He raises it from behavior to heart.
What if I feel spiritually stuck?
Stay in the struggle. Dawn comes.
A Call to the Messianic Remnant
You are not strange.
You are not confused.
You are Israel.
To wrestle with Torah is deeply Jewish.
To cling to God in the dark is deeply Jewish.
To say, “Bless me through this tension” — that is Jewish.
And Yeshua, our Messiah, stands not as the destroyer of Torah but as its living embodiment.
He invites you into:
Deeper love
Deeper obedience
Deeper identity
Deeper intimacy
The night may feel long.
But morning is coming.
Hold on.
Say with Jacob:
“I will not let You go unless You bless me.”
And like Jacob…
You will walk differently.
Marked.
Humbled.
Renamed.
Blessed.
If this message stirred something in you, do not suppress it.
Lean in.
Open the Scriptures.
Pray honestly.
And wrestle.
Because wrestling with Torah is not a crisis of faith.
It is the birthmark of Israel.
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