So who isn’t limping?

Christians have been mocked as people who use “religion” as a crutch. The implication is that we have something wrong with us and cannot live our lives without some kind of outside support. Duh!

Lest any of us try to defend ourselves against that notion, the best defense is, “Yes, you are exactly right. I do have something wrong with me. It is called sin, and I cannot live my life before God without dealing with it. My crutch is shaped like a cross and because of Jesus who died there, my sin is forgiven and I can walk in His righteousness, rely on His mercy, but also His strength, direction, and so much more. He is my total support, the One I rely on for everything—and what is wrong with that?”

However, I have to admit that the part I struggle with is those three words, “You are right.” I don’t want to be a needy person who has to cry out for help in even the simplest issues of life. In myself, I will do all I can to be independent, but that attitude alone is the basic description of sin. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way. . . .” (Italics are mine.)

To my own way gets me in trouble because my sinful nature is selfish, inconsiderate, determined to look out for me even at the expense of others, and certainly not interested in glorifying God or paying any attention to what He wants from me.

Yes, I have lived my own way without it seeming like I was limping. A lot of people do this. Some of them will say they do not need God; they are doing just fine without Him. In their eyes, and in the eyes of the world, they may be correct, at least for a while.

Jacob was one of those people who did his own thing. He made a bit of a show about being a religious man, but for the most part didn’t ask God about much. However, God knows what to do with folks who are determined to walk without crutches and will not acknowledge their sinful resistance to God.

Jacob found himself in a situation where he didn’t know if he would live or die, or if his family would perish. He was alone and, in one long night, found himself wrestling with “a Man” not specifically identified in the Bible passage.

This Man persevered, and so did Jacob. During the struggle, when the Man saw that He could not prevail against Jacob, “He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.”

After the sun came up and after Jacob refused to let go until this Man blessed him, He did bless him and gave him a new name. He said, “You have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed . . . and He blessed him there.”

Jacob rose up and this passage (Genesis 32) says, ‘“I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.”

Jacob learned a whole lot that long night. He learned that God will not give up on the most stubborn resistance because He wants to give us His very best, Yet He will not bless us unless we want it. Jacob also learned that blessings from God are not always what we think they should be. In this case, he was given a new name (a special significance to a Jew for to them a name indicated the direction of a person’s life). His old name, Jacob, meant “heel catcher” or “deceiver” but this new name means “He struggled with God” or “God’s fighter.”

He was also given a limp, and this is no small thing. From that point on, Jacob, now called Israel, stopped fighting to have his own way and yielded his life to the Lord. He realized he was needy, not just physically, and needed a crutch.

Along the way, I’ve had many wrestling matches with God. Strangely, every time God wins, I do too. He is not against me, but for me. If I persist and seem to win by having my own way, I wind up losing, partly because my own way never works the way I think it will.

God knows best. He even knows that by letting me “win” I will wind up realizing once again how crippled I really am, and how much I need His grace and wisdom. Without Him, my life may look okay to others, but at best I am merely limping along. Compared to my experiences of leaning on Jesus, and no matter how others might ridicule that, I prefer using my crutch.