24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When 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. 26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Genesis 32: 24-26, NIV
Recently, I fell and broke my ankle – UGGHHH!!! Unfortunately, that means that I have to wear a bulky cast and use crutches for several weeks. Needless to say, I am living with a limp, at least for now.
Limping is very uncomfortable. It makes you tired, sore and a little frustrated. I thought to myself, “I will be so glad when this heals so that I won’t have to limp any more.” But what if I had to live with that limp? Our main character in our text for today, Jacob had to live with a limp. He not only had a physical limp, but Jacob carried a spiritual limp – a reminder that God blessed him, would be with him, would protect and keep him, but there were some consequences for his choices. But not only consequences, the whole concept of “the limp” lets us know that it’s not easy to wrestle for your blessing.
Some blessings have to be pursued. Sometimes you have to hold on with everything in you and then some in order to receive your blessing. And sometimes, in the course of your “holding on,” in the course of you straining to reach your mark, in the course of you wrestling with God, you develop a limp. Sometimes that limp is a result of the bumps and the bruises you receive on your way to the blessing.
Sometimes the limp develops because of the years you spend hoping for a change. Sometimes the limp develops because of the pain of the “hoping process.” You can’t live without hope but sometimes it hurts to hope. It would almost be easier to give up and throw in the towel.
Sometimes it hurts to hope because hope is a long term commitment. In other words, as Paul says in Romans, “if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Along the hoping path we meet with the enemies of doubt, discouragement, scoffers who tell us its no use, and our own inner voices that raise the question, “What in the world are you doing?”
But hope is a long term investment. It is our wrestling with God until He blesses us. It is a decision not to let go, not to give up, not to throw in the towel, not to say, “it’s no use.” It is a long term commitment to ignore the naysayers, to ignore what is readily apparent and to choose to trust God, realizing that we walk by faith and not by sight. It is a decision, an understanding that sometimes, it hurts but as the athletes say, “no pain, no gain.”
It is the understanding that some of the things we experience will leave us some scars, but the scars are not there to defeat us, the scars are not there to kill us, the scars are there to remind us of the fierce love of God that would not let us go even when we wanted to let go.
I’m reminded of a story of a little boy, down in the south, out playing near a creek. His mother was near by when the boy decided to go out to wade in the water, not realizing that an alligator was lurking near by. Just as the boy stepped down further in the water, an alligator grabbed the boy by the leg. The boy started screaming and the mother ran down and grabbed the boy by his arms. The alligator was fierce and strong, but the mother’s love was stronger. As they tussled and screamed, some on lookers near by came to help and with sticks and rocks began pelting and beating the alligator until it finally let the boy go.
Thankfully, the alligator did not take off the boy’s legs, they were, however badly mangled and knarred by the alligators teeth. The boy’s arms were bruised and bleeding from the deep wounds made by his mother’s nails as she dug into his flesh in desperation, struggling not to let the little boy go. When the news reporters came to interview the boy, expecting a story of woe and pain – they were surprised. Instead of him showing his broken, bruised and knarred legs, he proudly pulled up his sleeves and showed him his scarred arms.
He said, “These scars show how much my mommy loved me because she wouldn’t let go.”
Sometimes hope and determination will produce scars and limps, but the scars and the limps are not to defeat us, they are to remind us that God will hold us and never let us go! Our hope in Him is never misdirected and our destiny in Christ is secure.
Sometimes in order to receive your blessing, you’ve got to wrestle, you’ve got to dig, you’ve got to pursue, you’ve got to strain. You may have to limp along the way, but if you hold on and don’t let go, God will deliver on His promises. Jesus was deeply bruised and wounded for us. His love for us is so fierce, that He would not let go.
Walk in that love, strength and blessed assurance today. Even if you are limping, there is a blessing wrapped up in our limp!
Post a comment or send me an email at
Revcsmith1@gmail.com
Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org
