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Walking With a Limp

Words of Faith Final

Walking With a Limp
Words of Faith 6-15-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 32
[22] That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. [23] After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. [24] So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. [25] When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. [26] Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
[27] The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.
[28] Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
[29] Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."
But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
[30] So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
[31] The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. [32] Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon.

There was still some wrestling to do before Jacob entered the land of promise. The many promises of God were coming to pass in Jacob's generation, yet Jacob was not quite ready. Jacob had a growing sense of God's hand upon his life, but there was still a lot of fight left in Jacob. He was about to confront the reality of God as never before.
The Scripture never directly defines who it was that Jacob wrestled at the river Jabbok. Part of the mystery of God is that He does not always explain Himself to us upon request. Jacob wrestled all night with "the man." This was the one situation he could not trick his way out of, and he could not overpower this opponent. But Jacob also would not quit. He would not turn loose. So the man touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched.
Jacob would not release the opponent until he received a blessing and the blessing came in the form of a new name. Because he had "overcome" and had not quit the struggle, Jacob would now be called "Israel." But this blessing did not come without a price. Jacob would always walk with a limp to remind him that God was more powerful. Jacob named the place Peniel, which means "face of God," because he had seen God face to face and was spared.
Here, at the threshold of the Promised Land, "Jacob" became "Israel." Remember that the name Jacob means "heel grabber" or "trickster." The name Israel means "God fights" or "God wrestler." The one who was a trickster would literally wrestle with God and would be forever changed. Part of the change was that he would trust God to fight the battles.
This was not just a defining moment for Jacob but for all of Israel in many ways. Israel became a nation that could trust God to fight its battles. Israel also defines a way of life that "struggles" or "wrestles" with God and the Torah. The method of Jewish learning in the yeshiva (Torah School) is to struggle with the text even through forceful argument.
It is a powerful point that God touched the strongest sinew of the wrestler and as it shriveled, so did what remained of Jacob's persistent self-confidence. Jacob discovered that the weapons of his flesh were lame and useless in a contest with God.
What he had been discovering for the past 20 years now dawned clearly. Jacob now knew that he was in the hands of the One against whom it is useless to struggle. After this crippling touch, Jacob's struggle took a new direction. Now, crippled in his natural strength, he became bold in faith.
There is a great truth here for each of us. Self-sufficiency is incompatible with the work of God. It is only when we confront the power of God that we are aware of our weakness, and only in our weakness that we learn to trust God! The Apostle Paul put it this way: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me" (2 Cor. 12:9).
God calls us to trust wholly in Him. We are called to a faith that will not turn loose of God, and in so trusting, we discover a God who will not turn loose of us. We may walk with a limp, but we have bold confidence in the Lord God.
Have you been wrestling with God? Don't turn loose! Learn as directly as possible that He is the power of the universe, and He desires to bless you and guide you as you trust Him day today.

Lord God, in the face of Your power, I am weak. I am ever aware of my weakness. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.