Genesis 32:22-32, “But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions. But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint. The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.” Jacob said, “I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me.” The man said, “What’s your name?” He answered, “Jacob.”The man said, “But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through.” Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?” The man said, “Why do you want to know my name?” And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!” The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip. (This is why Israelites to this day don’t eat the hip muscle; because Jacob’s hip was thrown out of joint.)” (MSG)
One of the houses I grew up in is located in Roosevelt, NY (Long Island). I lived most of my Junior and Senior High School Years and early adult years on East Greenwich Avenue. I absolutely loved my childhood home. One of my favorite rooms in the house was the living room because of the huge fireplace that my dad would light. In fact, many of my favorite memories of my dad are attached to that fireplace. You see, it was where he watched his westerns, sports, entertained his friends, relaxed with a beer after work, where he roasted his favorite peanuts and yams, and when we didn’t have enough money to pay for gas/oil, it was the fireplace that dad would light and keep lit all throughout the night, as he would sleep on the sofa to make sure nothing ever happened to us while it was lit for so long. Not to mention, it was also where me and dad enjoyed many talks that no one will ever know about that blessed my life forever. So, needless to say, in front of that fireplace was my favorite place.
And just because I like you guys so much, I’ll even let you in on a little secret, I loved that fireplace so much I got a sharp stone and engraved my initials in it! Don’t laugh!
Anyway, many years later, after my family moved out, several other families have moved in and out of it over the years. But there was actually one day that I was back in the old neighborhood, when I had an extremely bold moment. I was passing my old childhood home, and would have kept passing by, if it hadn’t been for the family that was outside in the yard relaxing. I asked my girlfriend to pull over for a second. I got out and went up to the man and woman who were sitting on the front steps. I introduced myself, and explained my attachment to the house. They were extremely kind, warm and inviting. They let me ramble on forever about many of my crazy memories about the house. And then they would point to varying things and ask about them, and I would fill them in on why this was like that and so on. But it was the man who asked the question that made me smile. He asked, “what do you love most about this house?” I explained to him my love of the fireplace and why. And as strange as it sounds, when they invited me in to see the fireplace, I went!
No, this is not advisable people! You do not enter a stranger’s home alone! But suffice it to say, I did.
And to the left where the living room was, and still was, held my favorite thing, the fireplace! After all these years, it was still there! It was still white, but you could tell it was painted over. Then, the woman said, “while we have you here, maybe you can tell us if these initials mean anything to you?” I asked her, “what initials?” And right at the base of the fireplace, was engraved “S.Y.J.F.” I couldn’t help but to break out in a huge grin, which led to a loud laugh. However, the frowning of their confused brows let me know that they thought I might have had some sort of mental break. So I quickly explained. “I loved this fireplace so much that I engraved my initials in it. So if we ever left it, technically, it would still be mine. The initials stand for Shermaine Yvette Jones Franklin, my name.” Then…they laughed with me, and said, “I can’t believe it, after all these years, the initials you carved in it so long ago are still here!”
This wonderful memory reminded me of Jacob. You’ll find me at Genesis 32, beginning at verse 24. Jacob has been having a wrestling match with someone who turns out to be divine. And verse 24 says, “So Jacob was left alone, and a Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak.” (AMP). Finally the fight ends when that Man touches the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Later, Jacob knows Who he met there. He called the place Peniel (the face of God), saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has not been snatched away.” Now the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel (Peniel), and he was limping because of his hip” (vss. 30-31 AMP) Jacob struggled with God. He’d actually wrestled with Him his whole life. But at this brook he goes for God’s full blessing. God changes him from Jacob, the cheat, and He changes his name to Israel, Prince with God. In fact, the whole nation will be named after him! God forgave Jacob. God transformed Jacob, and He’s still doing that with “Jacobs” today. Thank You Jesus!
But note this: Even though the struggle with God was over, Jacob carried a life-long reminder of his struggle – the limp! Past sins were forgiven, the man was changed, but as happens so often, he’d struggled with God and that left a mark on him the rest of his life!
Which made me think of my childhood fireplace. My initials engraved so many years ago, and yet, even after many things and people have changed in the home, the mark still remained. In a way, that’s a picture of how sin is. Even though the sin is long behind us, long forgiven, often the consequences, the marks of our sin are there for years to come. Truth is, sin is cruel. And you and I were once its slave, and we’re free now, but we still carry some of the scars of how our slave master treated us! And we always will…yet, believe it or not, sometimes, that’s not a completely bad thing.
We need to remember what sin does, because often it’s those scars, those lasting consequences that will deter us from leaving God’s way again! Now, forgiveness comes quickly when we bring our sin to the cross of Jesus, but it doesn’t come cheaply; it cost Him His life! But the ready availability of forgiveness should not make us forget the sometimes continuing consequences of sin; the limp that is there long after our struggle with God is behind us.
Since my childhood home with my favorite fireplace, I’ve moved a few times. The years have gone on. I’ve had children, gotten married, went to school, got saved, entered ministry, started working for the government. In other words, my life has been on a long journey and often on many rough roads. And even with all of that time elapsed in between, the initials, the engraving, the scar, the mark, is still there on that old fireplace! And that’s just like sin! It loves to remind us of what we did, when, where, why, with who, and how often. And it does it to keep us living under a dark cloud as though we no longer deserve the Sun or the Son.
And that makes me think of four R’s that explain some of the lasting scars/marks of sin that we need to be daily mindful of:
- REPUTATION – the damage to your reputation can last a long time. Sometimes it feels like it will take forever to redeem yourself. And it certainly doesn’t help when you have people who know about your sin and how badly you messed up. They will revisit your past on your behalf, just so you don’t forget. It’s hard when you’ve tarnished your own name, and now have the responsibility to polish it again. Remember this, it takes but a moment to tear apart your own reputation, but it often takes many a years to rebuild and reestablish it again.
- REGRETS – which are often there for years. You go through the grueling process of thoughts such as “I should’ve; I could’ve; I didn’t; but; why; if only I could just go back; if only I could do it all over again” Regret is a tough word to get out of your vocabulary. In fact, by definition it means “to feel or express sorrow, repentance, or disappointment over.” It’s Old French Origin “regreter” literally means “lament the dead.” And isn’t that often what we find ourselves doing? Regretting old (and even dead things). Long after they’ve been done, with no way to un-do them, we still hold years, decades and sometimes a lifetime of regret.
- RELATIONSHIPS – that were damaged that are hard to repair. Like it or not, but “I’m sorry” doesn’t remove the pain or the memory of the hurt we’ve inflicted in our sin. No, you shouldn’t be in bondage to your sin, and once you repent and change and ask for forgiveness, you are indeed fully restored. And no one can ever take that away from you. Especially when God Himself moves your transgressions from you as far as the East is from the West. However, truth is, we often rip apart relationships due to our sin. And sometimes that damage simply cannot be mended or repaired.
- RECOLLECTION – the memories that just keep coming back! It’s a sobering reminder to seriously count the cost before we take any spiritual detour. For example, I remember having an abortion on December 7th, 1992. And for almost a decade I mourned that date every year as though the baby died again and again each year. It was a painful reminder of a deliberate choice I made for my own life. And the “what if’s” never go away fully.
That’s the danger of sin. You have to deal with the Damage to your Reputation; the Regrets for your Choices; the Beyond Repair Relationships that you’ve Damaged; and the Painful Recollection of Memories of your transgressions. However, hold on, for as bad as this may sound, there is still some good news!
I know you may find this hard to believe or receive, but the scars of our past aren’t all bad! Especially, if they remind us to stay away from sin because of its’ price tag. And it’s wonderful to know that God has forever erased those sins from His book. In fact, my scars remind me of His scars for me! He’s got the scars of the nail prints in His hands and feet from having been nailed to a cross to pay the penalty and take the hell for our sin. So even though we have to deal with many of the consequences from our bad choices, we can still rejoice in reconciliation and redemption!
You see, Jacob was blessed, changed, and received covenant promises, at the same place where he received his limp! And even after he received all of these wonderful blessings, his limp never left him!
And as much as you and I would love to pretend that our mistakes and deliberate sin, never happened, it did. And we hurt ourselves and others. And some of that hurt is engraved in them just as deep as my initials are in that fireplace. But in honesty, when I look at the consequences of my bad choices, my limp if you will, it reminds me of the struggle, it reminds me of the painful past, it reminds me that I hurt myself and a lot of others. It reminds me that I don’t want to repeat such a bad performance. It reminds me to do better. It reminds me that I CAN be better. It reminds me that my change was costly, but more important it reminds me that just because I walked away before, doesn’t mean I’ll walk away again! Which is why it also reminds me not to take the grace, mercy, favor and forgiveness of God for granted!
Jacob was blessed indeed, but his limp never left him! God has blessed me indeed over the years, but my ‘limp’ has never left me either, and the more I mature in God, the more excited I am for the limp that straightened my walk!
In addition, the limping ones receive a blessing according to Scripture: Zephaniah 3:19, “Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you; I will save the limping [ones] and gather the outcasts and will make them a praise and a name in every land of their shame.” (AMPC)
Thank God He still saves the limping ones! He hasn’t forgotten us. Even when we’ve forgotten Him.
Listen, if you’re anything like me, you’ve messed up, bad, and often! And not all of your consequences have escaped you. You still have the marks, scars, limps, and memories of how terribly you failed God and others. Well, instead of beating yourself over the head with your ‘limp’, let it be your reminder to walk right! Let your ‘limp’ remind you that “If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also WALK by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward WALKING IN LINE, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]” (Galatians 5:25 AMPC)
Let your ‘Limp’ in the Flesh remind you to Walk by the Spirit! Let your Consequences remind you to make better Choices in life!
The word “consequence” is defined as “a result or effect.” It’s Latin Origin, “consequential”, from “consequi” literally means “follow closely.” Don’t despise your ‘limp’ or the consequences because of it, instead let your limp and consequences follow you closely, they will remind you of the pain you don’t want to repeat! In a nutshell: It was my ‘limp’ that taught me how to straighten out my walk with God. My ‘limp’ taught me that I wanted to walk with Him (but that He wouldn’t entertain my sin along the journey). It taught me to think better, to speak better, to do better, to live better, and to be better.
No, we can’t go back and re-do or un-do, but we can go forward doing better. Some stuff you may just have to live with, but that’s not a bad thing when you learn with it.
Today, remember that Jacob wrestled with God and received a limp, but he was also blessed, changed, and received covenant promises at the place where he received that limp. Please understand, your ‘limp’ is not there to limit you, it’s there to remind you when the next opportunity to sin walks up, you should without question walk away. Your limp is to remind you to trust God, rely and depend on God, to hear and heed God.
Lastly, there are no wrestlers that enter a match and walk away without hurt, pain, bruising, sweat and blood! In other words, there’s a blessing that comes with your limp that is for your good, but it will not feel good! Listen to the Bible: “And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.” (vs. 25) Look at a few translations:
“…He touched his hip joint; and Jacob’s hip was DISLOCATED…” (AMP);
“…he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and TORE A MUSCLE in Jacob’s thigh…” (CEB);
“…he STRUCK Jacob on the hip and THREW IT OUT OF JOINT…” (CEV);
“… he STRUCK Jacob’s hip and KNOCKED IT OUT OF JOINT AT THE SOCKET…” (TLB);
“…he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was WRENCHED as he wrestled with the man..” (NIV)
I reiterate, the limp is for your good, but it will not feel good! You see, that word ‘wrench’ in the last translation is defined as, “to pull or twist suddenly and violently.” So yes, you’ll wrestle and prevail and receive the blessing, but man is it going to hurt, and the effects of it will stay with you for life! And still I say, today, let your Limp Straighten Out Your Walk With God! The Lesson Learned and the Blessing Received From the Limp is Worth the Wrestle!
Much Love, Dr. Shermaine #EnjoyTheRead #BeInspired #BeEncouraged #BeEmpowered #BeChallenged #ShareTheWordFeel free to also join us at: http://www.selfcarewithdrshermaine.blogspot.com Today’s Lesson: “What Happens to Your Body When You Drink Alcohol? What Happens When You Quit?”
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