Of Limps and Blessings

I feel I should comment on a sermon I heard on Feb. 3rd.

To sum it up in 3 points:

1-Brokenness
2-Jacob's Limp (Genesis 32)
3-Walking with God

I don't believe Jacob's limp is meant to be a literal example of physical infirmity caused by God to teach us a lesson. HOWEVER, I do believe it is an example of a walk that is transparent in it's utter dependency on the Lord.

In this case He will wrestle us to the ground if we have ever given Him the invitation to be our Lord. He is our Saviour and most of us need to be saved primarily from ourselves. In the quest for our transformation into the likeness of Christ all dependence on anything other than God will be brought down - if we have ever made the choice to give our lives to Him, be sure; HE WILL TAKE IT HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER.

Do not be afraid, because He will pour out abundant blessing AND His grace is always sufficient AND He will not allow you to go through more than you can bear, it's in His Word. I will even venture to say that BECAUSE He wants to pour out abundant blessing it is necessary for Him to have an encounter with us. (Side Note: He may use the enemy's work in our lives as a catalyst. Why do some people die of their infirmities? Although we are positioned in Christ the full manifestation of the restoration of all things is not yet, but we know it will come. We must press on in faith, believing God's Word is true even if some of us get eaten by lions. This is greater faith.)

I would like to note here what Jacob prayed, I paraphrase: "Remember your promise to me O God, I know I'm unworthy, your kindness to me and faithfulness is awesome, you have prospered me, but now I'm faced with the fruit of my sin and it has the power to kill me and all my seed, remember your promise O God!" He then selected a guilt offering to appease Esau (Jesus has taken care of that for us), but what about Jacobs transformation? The Lord remembers all His promises and He knows what we need to overcome to inherit them; ourselves. God had to remove the root of something from Jacob, so the resulting plant would stop sowing seeds of destruction into his life. Now that is true love.

Often we look pretty great to people prior to our encounter. During our encounter people think we are going through hell/dark night of the soul/what have you, "Yup, they got problems, must not have enough faith...". After our encounter we look like we got our petooties whipped, "oh my, they've given in to Satan, tsk, tsk! Another good Christian taken out." HOWEVER, if we ever bother to stop and talk to the limpers we will detect the fragrance of a crushed rose, much like The Rose Of Sharon, who submitted to the will of the Father and who learned obedience through His suffering (Hebrews 5:7-9).

Warning: The outcome is dependent on the heart. We are exhorted not to harden our hearts, but to have hearts like David.

Important note:
I am not a believer in continuous Christian suffering or not receiving the blessings of God in this life - that is not Bible; if that's what you got out of this, read it again please. After the limp comes the blessing. After the encounter comes the blessing. As a result of the encounter comes the blessing. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BLESSING!