“This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket…The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.” (Gen 32:24-25, 31 NLT)
As a teenager in the 1970s, the era of the bigger-than-your-head Afro hairstyle, African-American males walked with a certain swagger called “pimping” as a way to declare that one was “cool.” For those who weren’t smooth at it, it looked more like they were limping instead of pimping, which was considered far from being cool. Those were the days.
According to the dictionary, a limp is defined as walking lamely; faltering; lacking substance, structure, or strength.
This definition describes “limping” as a position of weakness. As one deals with the realities of life, we experience things that cripple us, causing us to live on a limp either for a period of time or permanently throughout life. There does not seem to be anything cool about either.
Limps in our lives seem to put us, from the human perspective, in a position of weakness.
Yet, providentially God designed them to help us recognize our humanity and need for God’s help. In that case, a limp becomes a position of strength; a touch from God.
For the Hebrew patriarch Jacob, it changed his character when his name and identity was changed from Jacob, meaning “deceiver or supplanter,” to Israel meaning “he who struggles with God and prevails.”
In this seemingly weakened condition with a short-term torn tendon, he received a blessing that he had struggled and selfishly strove for all of his life up to this point. Yet now he gets it the way spiritual blessings are truly obtained; with God one has to lose to win.
One has to let go of his way and submit to God. This blessing strengthened Jacob to even face what he feared; that his twin brother Esau would not receive him favorably. But his brother did receive him (Gen. 33:4).
For the apostolic church planter Paul, it enabled him to recognize that God has a purpose for allowing limps of weakness to be injected into the human experience. In Paul’s case, his thorn in the flesh became a permanent limp, if you will, to keep him from becoming conceited by virtue of being granted great revelations.
Thus, in response to his limp, Paul was determined to rejoice in what we generally belly-ache, grumble and complain about; sufferings, hardships, insults and difficulties. By doing so, he was confident that the power of Christ would work through him (2 Cor 12:7-10).
Whether you are struggling in life with a short-term or permanent limp today, regardless of how others view you, consider your weakened condition to be your cool swagger. For it very well could be the most powerful point for a great change and a victorious moment in your life. It could be a moment for experiencing the all sufficient and empowering grace of God.
“…For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:10 NLT)
Rev. Johnson A. Beaven III is pastor of Citadel of Faith Church of God in Christ, 7676 E. 38th St., Indianapolis, IN 46226. Contact him at jbeaveniii@aol.com or visit www.johnsonbeaven.com.
