“I feel like Jacob, wrestling with God in my mind…”

– Barney Artist

This track by Barney really connects with me. I think it is the opening line that really just vibes one of the core words for CityHill since our inception. We often look to the story of Jacob for inspiration to challenge us and to bring us hope, that we can wrestle with God with our lives and be shaped and changed.

Of course wrestling with God in our mind is a good place to start, just so long as it doesn’t stay there… We can find ourselves relishing orthodoxy {right thinking} and missing the necessity of orthopraxy {right practise}.

Like Jacob and the person recorded talking at the end of the track, we can look back at our life and feel some what aggrieved by things that happen to us, sometimes even events that are outside of our control. We can loose hope, feel helpless, like things are never going to change.

Jacob received a new name, a new identity, he was called Israel ‘one who strives with God’… It is ok for us to strive and wrestle with God. Just don’t expect to win, in fact loosing to God in this is key and is winning. Jacob walked differently the rest of his life after that. Wrestle with God, may we walk away different…