Day 17: Change and Wrestling

Today we read Genesis 31 and 31, Job 21 and 22, and Proverbs 3:9-12. This is a story about the chosen family of God’s transition home and their struggle to let go as well as their fear of what comes next. Change is hard. There can be fear and frustration with staying and fear and a thin spark of hope in leaving or going home. It’s the story of God responding to all of Jacob’s wrestling with and for the blessing God had already promised would be his. God wrestles Jacob in this story and in wounding him, Jacob seems to gain perspective and God blesses Him, renaming him Israel. In the other story we are reading, Job is angry and hurt by the situation, his friends, and his lack of understanding with the “why.” He’s feeling misunderstood and perhaps lost in this story.

 

Resources:

Why did people keep family idols in the Bible? Got Questions.org https://www.gotquestions.org/family-idols.html 

Dr. Carissa Quinn and Dr Tim Mackie, (Jan. 2021). Wrestling God, Reflections, Episode 2, Podcast (13 minutes) https://bibleproject.com/podcast/wrestling-god/

Credits:

Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.