Walking With A Limp

Nov. 15

Read: Genesis 32:22-32 ,Hosea 12:3,4

Walking With a Limp

Some of my fondest memories as a child come from wrestling with my Dad. When my Dad would come home from work we would drop to the living room floor we would roll around, fighting for who would come out on top. Pillows would inevitably get thrown around- and even an occasional jump off of the couch onto Dad might take place! It was just the best. It was only Mom’s voice from the other room calling us to dinner that would finally cause us both to stop. Wrestling makes you pretty hungry after all!

Now as a father, some of the best memories I have with my own children come from my times of wrestling with them. Getting down onto the living room floor on all fours and covering myself with a blanket while lumbering around “growling”… I become the “blanket monster”. The kids would “defeat me” by climbing on my back, and pelting me with pillows until I collapsed. The fun would just go on and on until my wife called us to the dinner table. While we were wrestling I remember the ways I would pretend that my kids had held me down, or that they were too strong for me to pin. We would “lock up” like Olympic wrestlers and I would flex and grunt, pretending to use every bit of my strength against them. In the end, often times my four kids would pin me down by each one taking an arm or a leg. I would call out in defeat! The “giant” was defeated… the “blanket monster" captured. I am tearing up right now typing this as I think back to those days.

Why do we “wrestle” our kids? Because we love them! We want to be near to them. We want them to learn how to face adversity, how to endure, how to develop strength, how to face “monsters” in this world. God is no different with us. He wrestles with his children. There is an intriguing example of this in Genesis 32:22-32; this is where Jacob actually wrestles with God. How crazy to think about God stooping down, coming to the proverbial “living room floor” and locking up in the clinch with one of his sons, Jacob. The image is laughable … but it is very REAL. Look here;

"And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.” (Gen. 32:4,25)

As we read further we find out that this “man” was actually the angel of the Lord, it was Jacob wrestling with God himself. (cf. Gen 32:28-32, Hosea 12:3,4) Jacob wrestled with God himself and he did not quit. The Lord saw the way that Jacob did not give up wrestling him, that he was not easily deterred, and God reaches out and touches his hip socket and puts it out of joint. At this point of the story, things get “real” for us. Even though he was injured, Jacob did not quit. he continued to wrestle until daybreak. Finally the Lord says to Jacob, “let me go” and Jacob refuses to:

“Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” (Gen 32:6,7)

Jacob left that wrestling match with two things: a blessing and a limp. He walked away from that place realizing “there (God) blessed him. saying “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he walked away limping because of his hip.” (v.29-31) Jacob’s limp probably followed him the rest of his life. It was commemorated from that point forward in the fact that Israelites would not even eat the meat that was connected to the hip of an animal because of Jacob’s injury. (cf. v.32) There is so much for us to learn from this wrestling match with God… and so much to learn about walking with a limp.

Have you ever wonder why God wrestled with Jacob the way that he did? Why wrestling? When God was done, why not just pin him and leave? I mean, did Jacob really think he could beat God or overthrow him? Did Jacob even know it was God he was wrestling at first? I don’t think for a second that God was truly challenged by Jacob… as if Jacob was stronger than him or that it was an even match up! God wrestles with us as his children because he wants to be near to us, he wants us to to learn how to face adversity, how to endure, how to develop strength, how to face “monsters” in this world. Think about how Jacob was about to face his brother Esau whom he presumed had malice against him. Jacob was not one that you would expect to go “hands on” and wrestle to begin with. He was described as being more comfortable in the kitchen cooking than on the ground wrestling. God was calling Jacob into a new identity and chapter of his life, and he wouldn’t do it without a battle and a wound of sorts… a dislocated hip… giving him a limp.

We are not fit to receive blessing from God until we are willing to wrestle. To truly wrestle with God means you may walk away with a limp… in fact the greatest people of God normally do. Walking with a limp means you have endured the struggle, persevered to the end, asked for God’s blessing, and he has GIVEN IT. Walking with a limp means God goes ahead of you because you can’t keep up! It means you have to trust God to work… to change hearts, make a way, guide you…. because you can’t do it on your own. The greatest fighters and wrestlers still need help. (Jacob learned this as he watched God work ahead of him with his brother Esau.) God’s goal is NOT to destroy you! You are his child. He could pin you in a second… slam you down and crush you… but he is a loving Father who wrestles with his kids. There is great joy in the wrestling… there is blessing to be had in the wrestling… but we will walk away with a limp… and it is worth it. Often times, the pathway to our new identity and the next chapter in our lives will come on the other side of a struggle… a “wrestling match”. More often than not, we walk through the doorway to the next opportunity with a limp like Jacob. It travels with us as a perpetual reminder that God has drawn near to us and that he has blessed us. Think about the way that people ask us about our injuries, how cool is it to limp because you wrestled God!?!

When was the last time you “wrestled”? Do you walk with a limp from your past battles? Are you in the clinch right now with the Lord? Have you given up and what you actually need is to hop back in the match? Blessing and a limp travel together… they are a package deal. There is no fullness of life without carrying some scars. Your heavenly father is calling you to the mat… and some of the sweetest times and experiences in relationship come from wrestling!