Life is full of struggle. What types of struggles have you seen people in the Bible experience?

Jacob is a person in Genesis who struggled even before he was born. What do you learn about Jacob in Genesis chapter 25?

Genesis 25:23 (NIV)
23 The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”

• What was the significance of God’s promise/blessing for Jacob in this verse above?

Jacob cheats his brother Esau out of two important things in Genesis 25:29-34 and Genesis 27. Why do you think he cheated to get these things?

Genesis 32:9–12 (NIV) 9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ”

• Jacob has been a man who has lived his life deceiving others in an effort to obtain blessings. As a result, his life has seemed like a constant struggle with men and even God. In the prayer that Jacob offered above, does it indicate that Jacob has learned anything about his relationship with God? If so, what?

Genesis 32:24–31 (NIV) 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

• What do you think about this wrestling match?
• Jacob knew that the man he was wrestling was God in human form or a representative of God, possibly an angel. Why was it important for Jacob to hang onto the Angel of the Lord?
• What do you think was the significance of knocking Jacob’s hip out of place?

God showed his great mercy to Jacob by blessing him even when Jacob tried to achieve the blessing from God by his own means. Have you ever found yourself chasing after something that God has already promised you or blessed you with?

Ephesians 1:3 (NIV) 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians 1:1-2:10 reminds us that God has blessed us in Christ. To be found in Christ is important if we want to find peace from our struggles. Consider how God has blessed you in Christ. What would it be like if you could simply rest in Him and trust what He has already promised you?