About this episode

The episode explores the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with God and its implications for personal authenticity and spiritual struggle.

A few times recently different people have mentioned battling with God which has caused me to think of one of the Jewish foundational founding fathers/ patriarchs - Jacob, who wrestled with God. Jacob was born clutching on to his older twin brother Esau's heel. In the Bible, Jacob means, "one who grabs the heel", "supplanter" or "deceiver". As a young man, after a major deception towards his father Isaac and his brother, Jacob ran off to live with his uncle. He wanted to marry his youngest cousin but his uncle deceived him into marrying his older cousin first after 7 years' labour. He then had to work for another 7 years to be able to marry the younger cousin. His uncle always tried to exploit him but God was with Jacob and he prospered. After 14 years Jacob returns home to his twin brother, to make amends but with great trepidation. On the journey home he wrestles all night with a mysterious figure. By morning God changes Jacob's name to "Israel" which means, "he who struggles with God". We can all benefit in different ways when reflecting on this account (In Genesis 32:22-32) but I sense that for the purposes of this message now, it is an encouragement to us to be authentic…

People in this episode

Host: Stephanie Hawkins

Topics covered

• wrestling with God
• authenticity
• spiritual struggle
• transformation
• biblical stories

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