Walking with a Limp
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, send Your Spirit to me that I may have fellowship with You through Jesus Christ, Your Son.
Read Genesis 32:22-32
[22] That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. [23] After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. [24] So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. [25] When 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. [26] Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” [27] The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. [28] Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” [29] Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. [30] So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” [31] The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. [32] Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Reflect
What was Jacob's new name and its significance?This is another powerful story in a biography full of such holy encounters. Jacob is now totally alone. The narrative implies that Jacob has sent everyone else ahead of him so that he might delay Esau’s arrival. It is in this state of solitude that we read one of the strangest stories in the Bible. The German theologian Rudolf Otto uses the word “numinous” to describe it. God is experienced in a way that is magnificent, sacred and sometimes terrifying. He is completely “other” to us. This idea of God as magnificent, terrifying and “other” lies behind C.S. Lewis’s portrayal of Aslan, whom Mrs. Beaver says is good but not safe (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). Jacob fights with God and receives a new name and identity. He is now to be called Israel, and through him a nation will one day share the same name. But the cost is significant: Jacob leaves this encounter with a limp; a physical disability that symbolizes God’s loving dominance over his life.
Apply
Have you ever experienced God in such a special way? How do you understand your new identity in Christ?
Closing prayer
Lord, You are the Lord of heaven and earth, victorious over death and hell. I bow before You now in adoration.
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