“Dude, you’re limping! What happened?” I had just undergone knee replacement surgery the week before, and after the first physical therapy session, I ditched the crutches and the walker. The next Sunday, I walked into church as if nothing happened, but someone who knew me well could tell I wasn’t walking my normal gait.
As Christians, there are two ways we can end up lame. The first is when God inflicts it, and the second is when it is self-inflicted.
Most of us are familiar with the story of Jacob wrestling with God. He had left the employment of Laban and was headed back to Canaan when news came that his brother Esau was coming to meet him. This was the same brother who sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of chili (Texas rendering), the same brother whom Jacob had robbed of his father’s blessing. Then something supernatural happened.
“And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.” (Genesis 32:24-25, ESV)
The passage goes on to say that Jacob had wrestled with God, who changed his name to Israel. God had to cripple the self-reliant Jacob so he would no longer rely on himself but on God. In his book The Root of the Righteous, A. W. Tozer tell us, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”
The second way is self-inflicted, and it just so happens that Jacob’s brother is our example. In the book of Hebrews, we read about lameness, and Esau is our case study.
“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.” (Hebrews 12:12-16)
Esau’s spiritual lameness was caused by a “root of bitterness,” which is the result of anger and unforgiveness. What was the source of that anger? Scripture gives us the answer.
“When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” (Genesis 25:27-28)
We read this and we think Esau is a man’s man who is out hunting while Jacob sits at home with mom. But catch this: Issac loved Esau because he made good barbecue, but Rebekah loved Jacob, period. One was loved conditionally, and the other was loved unconditionally.
You might be thinking that it wasn’t his fault because he grew up in a “dysfunctional” home, and there is some merit to that. But here’s the deal: What happens to us in life is one thing; how we respond to it is another. Jacob, the recipient of unconditional love, desired the things of God, to the point of pursuing them in a wrong fashion. Ultimately, God rewarded his desire by crippling him, making him totally dependent on Himself. Esau allowed resentment to take over his life, which led to him being called an “unholy” individual. Why? Because he failed to obtain the “grace of God.”
Forgiveness is not something we can do on our own. We need to ask God for grace, the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, to forgive those who have wounded us. Failure to do so makes us spiritually lame, potentially leading us to a place of being “unholy.”
The Apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh to keep him dependent on God, Who told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Paul was greatly used by God despite the weakness. I think Tozer was on to something.
If we want to be greatly used by God, then we should allow Him to do whatever wounding He deems necessary, because “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” (Proverbs 27:6)
What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!
