Jacob Part 2: Let's Get RRReady to STUMBLLLLLLLE!

This is a follow-up article I did for our bulletin covering some afterthoughts to my sermon in the previous post.

I was talking to a friend earlier this week about my sermon last Sunday. One of the most difficult elements to me about the story of Jacob wrestling with God (or some form or messenger thereof) is that Jacob, while winning, is injured. And it seems like a needless injury.
Are there times when God puts obstacles in our path, or gives us what seems like needless pain and injury? Perhaps from our view it may seem like it, but there is always much more going on behind the scenes. Much like Job, we cannot understand it or see the whole picture, but God is working and He knows much more than we do. In one quick verse Job’s words in Job 1:21 are seen in Jacob’s life: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Jacob, in one night has his mobility taken away by a touch, but he gains a blessing and a new name. The Lord gave, and He took away.

With some distance and perspective, it seems that we can see more clearly how God works. In Job we know the end of the story, and we often times appeal to it too quickly, missing the struggling in between that Job and his friends did not know the outcome of.

In the story of Jacob I wondered why it was his hip was wrenched. This is my theory I came to when talking with my friend. I will remind you this is a theory and I do not claim to speak for God or have any kind of final authority on this, but I think it does make some sense and it adds to the conversation.

Jacob up to this point was a runner. He would defraud his family of what he could and then he ran. He ran from the anger of Esau and later from Laban. Yet he never ran from God, and in this wrestling match Jacob held on. His injury was his hip. He now walks with a limp and with much pain. In a physical way he can no longer run, and I wonder if it was a blessing from God telling Jacob that he can no longer run from difficulty and must face it. But with that Jacob received the blessing of his new name, Israel, which means “you have struggled with God and men, and have overcome.” Jacob no longer has to run because he will overcome. The injury appeals to what is now his strength. God won’t let Jacob run anymore. Jacob must ignore his first instinct and deal with the confrontation, but now with the confidence that God is on his side and he will overcome.
Much like a good parent, God never arbitrarily hurts us, but sometimes he will in order to bring about a greater good, stronger character, and a deeper faith. As Paul reminds us, His power is made perfect in our weakness.

So that is my sermon afterthought. Take it for what it is worth, which is trying to make some sense out of a bizarre and mysterious story. But take comfort in this, we serve a God who gives and takes away, but it is all for our benefit and His glory.