Blessed to Limp

Everyone has experienced the consequences of false hope. That's because hope is different from choosing what you want. C. S. Lewis said, "Most people, if they really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that what they want acutely cannot be had in this world." Eventually everyone gets to a crossroads in life where they come face to face with God and reality.

 

          Jacob faced uncertainty the night before he was to meet his brother. As he tried to sleep, Genesis 30:24 tells us a man wrestled with him until daybreak, but Jacob refused to let the man go. Then the man informed him his name would now be “Israel, because you struggled with God and have overcome.” 

          Jacob would carry a permanent reminder of experiencing God and being blessed by him. The angel of God touched the socket of his hip, resulting in a permanent limp. This experience would strengthen Jacob's hope for a future blessed by God to be passed on to his children who were receptive to trusting in the God of hope.