Journey Through Doubt - The Struggle is Real
Speaker: Pastor Josh Jansen
Read: Genesis 25:19-34; 27:1-45; 32:1-7, 22-30; 33:1-4
Sermon Recap
We live in a time when our world is becoming more polarized on many fronts, and a time when failure to embrace diversity adds to life’s troubles. Struggles are real and life can be hard for us because we are broken people. As we struggle, it effects the way we treat others and our tendency is to surround ourselves with people like us. In conflict we see others as the problem and because of stress and self-doubt, we do things to destroy the very future we are trying to protect. It matters how we struggle, but in our humanity, we cannot figure out life by ourselves. The right way to handle a struggle is illustrated in the biblical story of Jacob.
Throughout his life Jacob struggled because he was desperate to win and consistently trying to get ahead. Even at birth, he grabbed his older twin’s heel trying to pull him back. Later after tricking his brother Esau out of his birthright and his father, Isaac to get his brother’s blessing, he fled fearing the retribution of Esau. As he is about to face Esau after 20 years, he is frantic with fear and is at the end of his rope. When he goes off alone to pray, he then encounters God and wrestles with Him all night long seeking a blessing. On the other side of the wrestle he has a limp but receives the answer he needs and realizes that God has been with him all of his life. From Jacob we learn to embrace our struggles and to place them in God’s hands. For He is already knows about them, is aware of our brokenness and wants to transform our struggles into a blessing and a renewed purpose.
Discussion Questions:
1. What resonated with you as you listened to this sermon and reviewed it?
2. Why do you think it is important for us to live a more diverse life? How does failing to do so relate to struggles we might experience in life?
3. Read Genesis 32:22-26. It records that Jacob wrestled with God all night seeking a blessing. How can we wrestle with God?
4. As a result of wrestling with God, Jacob had a limp that reminded him of it and the struggles he had been through. What scars do you have that remind you of struggles you have come through?
5. It was said that struggling with God brings blessings and a new identity, unlike struggling with people which brings isolation and loss. What does this mean to you?
6. What things do you struggle with that are an indication of your brokenness?
7. It was said that a healthy church struggles with God together. What does this mean to you?
