Our Limp and God's Grace

Read Genesis 32

Gen 32:30
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

I preached a sermon on “Jacob, the Limping Disciple” in my church on Sunday. For me, Jacob is a biblical character that I can easily relate to.

He is a man with complexities, great insecurities and whose life motto is, “in me I trust”. He believes in his own intelligence, his own passive-aggression and his own judgement of life, people and events. He is clearly a man with high intellect.

His greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. His greatest asset is also his greatest liability. But it will take a divine encounter for Jacob to see himself.

At the end of his life journey, Jacob is enriched with possessions but impoverished in relationships. In Genesis Chapter 32, Jacob‘s past, so called, ‘caught up with him’. A life threatening situation of meeting Esau, his brother whom he has stolen his birthright and blessing keeps him awake. His thoughts must have flashed back to all of his life events – a past that he is not proud of. However, his mind continues to churn up schemes of escape. The old cunning Jacob is working yet again.

The battled Jacob is cornered but is he humbled? Not until God breaks the hollow of his thigh. In that instant, Jacob has an epiphany – he has been wrestling with God yet his life is spared!

Our broken lives, unglamorous past, wilful sins and twisted lives; God sees it all – and God has had mercy on us.

There is a twist to the story – Jacob came face to face with Esau and his life is preserved. Esau, the sinned-against forgives the sinner, Jacob freely. Who would have thought that possible? This is yet another great manifestation of God’s grace.