running or depending…

jacob is given a reminder of his experience so he’ll never forget what’s happened to him the rest of his life.  GOD gave him a limp. genesis 32.31 (niv), the sun rose as jacob left peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 

in the struggle, GOD dislocated his hip and left a weakness.  for the rest of his life jacob walked with a limp.  he would never walk the same again.  a reminder of that event, the event of  Jacobs wrestling with GOD, of his coming face to face with GOD.

when you really meet GOD, you will never walk the same again.  if you say, “i'm a CHRISTian,” and your life has not changed any bit you’re not really a CHRISTian.  you’ve never really met GOD.  you cannot meet somebody who’s as great as GOD and not have your desires change.  you want to do the right thing now, you can’t do it.  he would never walk the same again.

so what is the significance of this limp?  two things.

           

1.     it stopped jacob’s lifelong pattern of running. 

if you have followed jacob’s story you know he was constantly creating trouble and running from it.  he’d create a problem then run from it.  he was always trying to escape.  he was the most irresponsible a person you could imagine.  he was always running from problems that he created.  GOD said, “we can stop that.  we’ll just give you a limp.  you’ll never run again.”  it’s a reminder.

it is never GOD’s will for you to run from a problem.  never.  if you run from it, it will just come up again because GOD’s more interested in changing your character than making your life comfortable. 

2.  it’s a daily reminder to depend upon GOD. 

your thigh muscle is the largest and strongest muscle in your body.  GOD touched jacob at his greatest point of strength and created a weakness out of it.  from that point on jacob was going to have to stand in GOD’s power not his own.  jacob leaves this situation both stronger and weaker – stronger in that he’s not the same person any more, there’s been a conversion.  all the junk in his past has been dealt with.  but also weaker because now he’s going to have to depend on GOD for his daily walk.  we have to remember to depend on GOD on his strength not our own.

just a thought from the front porch…