There is another inhabitant of the blogsphere calling his entries “Jacob’s Limp.” So we are only able to use that designation as a subtitle.
Bible students will instantly recognize the reference to Genesis 32. On his flight to Haran, God sent Jacob a Vision (Gen. 28). This was the famous dream sequence of the ladder. Twenty years later on his way back home God sent Jacob a Visitor. His identity is revealed by degrees. We believe the “man” Jacob wrestled with was none other than the Angel of the Lord, the usual Old Testament designation for the pre-Incarnate Christ.
That struggle is a picture of prevailing prayer. God allows Himself to be persuaded to do something He desired all along. (We see the pattern articulated in Ezekiel 36:37.)
Speed had served Jacob well during his career up to that point. That career was characterized by determination to gain by rascality what God would have granted by grace. Thus he hastened to Isaac’s side when Esau went out to hunt (Gen. 27:18-19). Thus he fled Canaan to escape his offended brother’s wrath (Gen. 28:5). Thus he fled his father-in-law (Gen. 31). Doubtless he planned to rely on speed if evasive measures were necessary during the coming confrontation with Esau, but the Man he grappled with took that option away (Gen. 32:25). When the Man whom Jacob called God took His leave, Jacob limped away from the place he called Peniel.
An encounter with the Living God renews our conviction that reliance upon self is folly. Any resource the self can muster independent of God is a liability. Jacob’s Limp was a consecrated weakness. Jacob’s Limp made it more likely that the patriarch would run with dependence on the strength of God because his own strength had been diminished. The wound accelerated the weaning from self.
Let us thank God for such wounds.
Let us welcome them with gratitude.
Let us regard them as favors.
May we receive from God those blessed weakenings
which make dependence upon Him the more necessary.
Others boast of strength.
Let us rather boast of weakness.
Let others leap for joy.
For us this limp suffices.
And we rejoice the more.
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The wrestling angel gifted Jacob with a limp as a permanent reminder of his encounter with God. Jacob's life-long policy was to run. His final glory was that he learned to lean (Hebrews 11:21). A wound is a good thing if it is accepted as a stewardship from God, appropriated as a channel of God's strength and consecrated to God's purpose. Where dependence is the objective weakness is the advantage.
4 comments:
What a great reminder that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. I like that you've entitled your blog in such a way to remind us of our humanity and of God's holiness.
I am thrilled you have entered blogdom.
This post moves my soul. Jacob is special to me. Most days I spend time enjoying "my" Jacob, the sculpture by Clay Enoch. Jacob has an amused look on his face as he leans upon his staff to worship. I trace his curved spine and deformed hip-sweet results of struggle.
My granny used to tell me when I was an awkward teenager in a back brace, that without troubles, a person isn't worth two cents.
I believe her.......now.
I am broken, my friend, and yes, I am limping. When the Lord takes away - to make us more like His Son - it is painful. It is painful to grasp more closely the reality of our sinfulness - our helplessness. Grace is beautiful - but only with the eyes of eternity. Acknowledging that without Him we are nothing is losing self; losing pride; losing self-righteousness. All of that is good. Yet, it is frightening for those of us who formerly had high opinions of ourselves. Father, cripple me, mame me - but show me Your glory.
ten years later and I continue to come back to this again and again. When dependence is desired weakness is an advantage.
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