The Limp

 "Jacob named the place Peniel, 'face of God,' for he said, 'I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.' The sun rose as he left Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip." Genesis 32:30-31....."Never trust a leader who doesn't walk with a limp." Rabbi Jason Sobel

Jacob, the son of Isaac, and grandson of Abraham, was a twin to his brother Esau, and the second of the pair to be born. Yet it was Jacob, and not first born Esau that God chose to be the inheritor of the promises made to Abraham and Isaac. Despite this, Jacob was an oftentimes devious man. Some bible scholars nicknamed him "The Trickster," because he often used trickery as a means of securing what he wanted, even the fulfillment of God's promises. Rather than trusting and depending on the God of those promises, he schemed and manipulated in order to get to the place God had already promised to put him. At Peniel, after a lifetime of such behavior, he met and wrestled with God, in the form of a man, the pre-incarnate Christ, face to face. In the struggle, God touched and dislocated Jacob's hip. He would forever walk with a limp, and the Father meant that it would be a reminder to him of his need for and dependence upon God, and not upon his own devices. At Peniel, Jacob the Trickster died. At Peiel, he not only became a man others could trust, he became a man God Himself could trust.

When one looks at the full picture here, we can understand what Rabbi Sobel meant in his declaration about leaders and limps. It is the one who in his walk with the Lord, has persevered through severe trials, wilderness experiences, and wrestling through great matters of faith that can be trusted. Such a person has been shaped by the Lord to be dependent upon Him alone. The limp signified that about Jacob. He was no longer his own man. He was God's man. And he would live out God's will for him, and concerning all those to whom he was entrusted with. God trusted him, and so, those who followed him could trust him as well.

All the truly great men and women of the Bible were those who walked, spiritually, with a limp. Moses, David, Esther, Isaiah, Paul, Peter, and countless more that we'll never know of this side of eternity, walked with such a limp. They were those who through suffering, pain, and every type of "wilderness," had been shaped by Him to be those who could fit in His hand as His instruments. In a sense, His only Son, Jesus Christ the Messiah, walked with that same limp, for He said, "I do nothing except that which I see My Father doing." That is the attitude, the "limp," that all leaders and disciples must walk in. Without it, we are sure to, at some point, conduct ourselves as did Jacob before Peniel; as Tricksters. Scheming, manipulating, working the angles to get to the place we want to be. Trusting ourselves far more than we will ever trust Him. And for that reason, we can never be trusted. Not by Him, and not by His people.

Who do your spiritual leaders most resemble? Who do you most resemble? Jacob before Peniel, or after? Do they, do you, walk in your own strength, or with a limp that makes you dependent upon Him? Do you reject that limp, or embrace it?

For most of us, the idea of walking with a limp is an unwelcome condition. Our pride rejects it. We don't want to be "crippled" in any way. A limp seems like weakness to us. Not so to Him. I've a friend who likes to say that we need to declare "total disability" as it relates to our walk with Him. Doing so will prove His promise that when we are weak in ourselves, we begin to discover our strength in Him. Have you and I really discovered that truth. Are we willing to declare total disability that we may have all ability in Christ? Do we dare to walk with a limp? If not, we, like Jacob, the Trickster, need our own Peniel.

Blessings,

Pastor O