Faye touched the scars on her abdomen. She had endured another surgery to remove esophageal-stomach cancer. This time doctors had taken part of her stomach and left a jagged scar that revealed the extent of their work. She told her husband, “Scars represent either the pain of cancer or the start of healing. I choose my scars to be symbols of healing.”
Jacob faced a similar choice after his all-night wrestling match with God. The divine assailant wrenched Jacob’s hip out of socket, so that Jacob was left exhausted and with a noticeable limp. Months later, when Jacob massaged his tender hip, I wonder what he reflected on?
Was he filled with regret for his years of deceit that forced this fateful match? The divine messenger had wrestled the truth out of him, refusing to bless him until Jacob owned up to who he was. He confessed he was Jacob, the “heel grabber” (see Genesis 25:26). He took advantage of his brother’s hunger and traded a stew for the birthright. He tricked his father, Isaac, for the first blessing by dressing up in his brother’s clothes. The divine wrestler said Jacob’s new name would be “Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome” (32:28).
Jacob’s
limp represented the death of his old life of deceit and the beginning of his
new life. The end of Jacob and the start of Israel. We all carries life’s scars,
but aren’t we all the Bnai Yisrael, the children of Israel! When we learn from experience, the scars of our lives can
lead us to restoration and like our father Jacob a renewed intimacy with God.
No comments:
Post a Comment