The Wound That Heals - Treasures of Faith - Week 6 Day 5

TODAY'S TREASURE

The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

Genesis 32:31

Transcript

The Wound that Heals

Chuck and Sharon Betters 

Today’s Treasure

The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

Genesis 32:31

Though he experienced supernatural encounters with God, Jacob still feared obedience. Instead of believing God had changed Esau, as in fact God had done, the younger brother judged Esau’s warm greeting by that old familiar standard: Esau must be lying, Jacob suspected, thinking, in effect, “It’s just the sort of thing I myself would do.” Jacob cravenly addressed the ungodly Esau as his “lord,” bowing obsequiously before him, even though God Himself had long before promised it would be Esau who would one day serve Jacob. Finally, Jacob lied. He promised to join up with Esau later when he really planned, in direct disobedience to God’s instructions to return home, to go to the city of Shechem instead, safely out of Esau’s clutches. Although at Shechem, Jacob and his family were certainly back in the land of Canaan, they were not yet living where God had told them to go: the place near Bethel where his father and the rest of his family were settled. Jacob, once again, had improvised, bringing along God “in tow.” The family of Jacob would suffer deep consequences for this seven-year detour into Shechem, a detour made in defiance of God’s expressed wishes for Jacob. Dinah, his only daughter, would later be raped in that place, and Jacob’s sons, in taking upon themselves a horrible and bloody act of vengeance, would in turn bring near-disaster upon them all.

On the heels of this disheartening chapter in Jacob’s life, God once again called upon Jacob to return to his home:

"Then God said to Jacob, 'Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.'" Genesis 35:1

This time, Jacob complied. In doing so, he had come full circle. Thirty years before, he had vowed that if God would protect him, he, in turn, would surrender to God, becoming God’s faithful and obedient servant. Jacob, battered and discouraged by the aftermath of the sojourn in Shechem, this time commanded his family to get rid of all the foreign gods and to repent of their idol worship. Jacob then led his family in worship and finally came home to Bethel.

God once more spoke to Jacob, calling him again by his new name, “Israel” (Genesis 35:9–15). This use of “Israel” reminded Jacob that he had struggled with—and had been overcome by—God. The Lord’s words to Jacob were gracious, displaying His compassion and forgiveness for an undeserving, broken man.

But Jacob’s troubles were not yet over. His beloved Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin, their second child. And as for the older son, Joseph? The price Jacob and Joseph would one day pay for their special relationship makes Hebrews 11:21 even more poignant. Instead of learning from his own parents’ sin of favoritism, Jacob expressed his preferential love for Joseph at every opportunity, including giving him a beautiful, expensive coat of many colors. As it would turn out, the “apple does not fall far from the tree”: Jacob’s other sons, jealous and angry, carried on the sins of their father as they schemed and plotted their brother’s downfall. These malcontents finally and brutally got rid of their hated brother Joseph, selling him off as a slave while telling their father the boy must be dead.

Conflict, drama, sorrow, grief, loss, disobedience, distrust, broken relationships, and severe family conflict. Jacob experienced it all. We would never choose a man like Jacob as an example of faith. Yet, his life gives us a beautiful picture of redemption and points us to Jesus. At the end of his life, he fully trusted God. I wonder how much his limp helped turn his heart to the trustworthiness of God as he woke every morning to more hard places. 

His hip had been wrenched from its socket, and he walked with a limp. This was no minor injury. It was a daily, visible reminder of his special relationship to God.

To the world, weakness is shameful. But in God’s economy, weakness is sacred. That limp became a sign of transformation, the wound that healed Jacob’s self-sufficiency.

Throughout Scripture, God allows wounding to bring healing. He breaks us to bless us. Like a shepherd who breaks the leg of a wayward lamb to keep it close, God sometimes allows pain to produce intimacy.

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT 

Are you limping? Has life wounded you? Don’t despise your scars. You may walk more slowly now. You may walk differently. But if you're walking in surrender, you're finally walking in the right direction.

PRAYER

Lord, thank You for the wounds that bring me closer to You. Help me embrace weakness as the place where Your strength is made perfect. Let my limp remind me that I belong to You. 

MORE…

Adapted from Treasures of Faith by Chuck and Sharon Betters with permission from P&R Publishing

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