Sermon Short for June 28th, 2020
Struggles in the night
Genesis 32:22-32, Matthew 3:13-4:11
The story of Jacob is worthy of a Game of Thrones style epic. He is introduced in Genesis Chapter 25 and goes through to the end of the book in Chapter 50. We will look at just one small adventure of his long life, but an adventure that changed the course of world history – his struggle with a mysterious “man.”
All of us can relate to this story because all of us have had, or will have or are having a struggle of some sort. Even Jesus had such a time. It can be long and hard and lonely and dark. For each of us there is appointed a dark night of the soul. A time when we must struggle and either win or lose a blessing.
There is a choice in our struggles; a choice in our dark nights. We will find a blessing in them or we will find misery. Do we see the struggle as a struggle with angels, a struggle in which we can win a blessing? Or do we see it as only unwanted pain?
Jacob did not know with whom he struggled, nor was he ever told, but he was clever enough to ask for a blessing within it, and he would not let go until he received it.