Christian Wrestling
Psalm 119:133
Let no iniquity get dominion over me…
The Bible uses a lot of battle metaphors for Christian living. It speaks of following Christ in terms of spiritual warfare, boxing matches, and wrestling. The Psalmist couches his struggle against sin in this way also. He prays that God would not allow sin to “get dominion” over him. He sees sin as a foe that is wrestling against him and is trying to overpower and bring him into submission. Sin wants him to tap out.
He uses two “wrestling techniques” in his match against sin. He employs the word of God. The context points us to that idea. The whole Psalm is built around the Psalmist’s view of the Scriptures. Jesus used the word during His wilderness temptations. Paul tells us the word is “the sword of the Spirit.” We should engage iniquity with the word.
Secondly, the Psalmist turns to God in prayer. The text itself is a prayer to God. “Let not,” is a request. This Psalm is not simply a man speaking about the word of God to other men. The words of the Psalmist are directed toward God. It is a prayer. Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Again, when we turn to Paul’s Ephesian description of the Christian armor, he instructs us to pray.
We are reminded in this simple line, “let no iniquity get dominion over me,” that we are in a battle against sin. As with Cain, sin is crouching at the door and waiting to control us. We have no choice but to step onto the mat and engage in the match. The Psalmist reminds us that we have two powerful “wrestling techniques” to engage our enemy with – the word of God and prayer.