Jacob, the Old Testament patriarch, spent the pivotal night of his life wrestling with an unidentified figure.
As dawn comes Jacob asks for a blessing before he will release his protagonist. He receives his blessing, but his hip is touched and he walks thereafter with a limp.
He receives his blessing, but he walks with a limp.
Jacob’s experience finds its ultimate expression in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our Saviour’s glorification will never erase the experiences of his suffering.
There is an echo of that reality in the lives of those who follow Jesus.
I was talking with someone about the state of our churches in South Australia. He observed that 15 years of that sort of struggle has a personal impact. I won’t be the same again.
That’s how it is: you wrestle for a blessing, you’ll walk with a limp.
Everyone wants the blessing, nobody wants a limp.
Or we want to nominate our limp, name the cost we’re prepared to sacrifice.
So, there’s a limp – I don’t even know if this is the extent of it or if there’ll be more.
But that’s okay.
It’s a blessing worth getting.
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