648 The Wounds of Standing for Christ. Oct 5, 2025

Key Scripture: Genesis 32:24-29And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 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. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

Relevance

It's 6 pm on Saturday evening, October 4, and I’m sitting on my front porch in my favourite cane chair, watching the traffic and listening to music as I type. There are a lot of Ford Mustangs out today, the V8 type, both right-hand and left-hand drive. They sound magnificent. It's one of the benefits of living on a highway. If I owned one, today would be the perfect day for a rod run with friends. 

But aside from that, I’ve got my feet up on my second favourite cane chair, as I can barely walk with my hip. My hip problem is not a battle scar, but it certainly provokes thoughts. It has me reflecting on the battle scars we bear for standing up for the Lord. I don’t mean grand theological contentions, but rather the smaller stuff we get involved in, like walking the extra mile, helping others, making our phone calls, correcting ourselves, turning off the television to the wrong programs, making the right decisions when it’s difficult and denying ourselves in those minor, oblivious instances.

There is always a scar in the battle, and as simple as some of these things may be, we still encounter loss. We all have scars from standing for Christ. We also bear scars from not standing for Christ.

In our key passage is the well-known wrestling match between Jacob and an angel. From what we have heard of angels, it’s difficult to envisage a mere mortal in a hand-to-hand wrestling match, without the fists, elbows and knees. 

But then again, Jacob was determined, so he may have snuck in an uppercut or two or a Glasgow kiss (headbutt). 

We don’t know how old Jacob was when he wrestled the angel. If we take into account his 20 years of working for Laban, and perhaps another 20 before that when he wrested the crown from Esau, that would put him at about 40-45 years old at the time. Jacob died at the age of 147. Therefore, he lived for around 100 years with a disabled hip. 

An interesting point is that we don’t read anywhere else in those hundred years of Jacob whining about it. He may have, but we can’t see it in scripture, so God didn't think it necessary to add. It was simply a battle scar received in a spiritual war. I believe that every time Jacob was tempted to mumble to himself about his faulty hip, as we all do about our infirmities, he would balance out the scales with what he received from the Lord—a much greater prize.

It's not worth rubbing our hands over the bumpy scars to remind us of our loss in those little faith choices. What we have obtained is far greater, but we often fail to notice the hidden growth that develops as we exercise our faith. 

So the next time we're feeling a bit like licking our wounds of what we believe we have lost due to faith-based decisions, we can balance out our scales of justice with the blessings our Lord and Saviour has granted us in return. We will find that it is tenfold. 

It's easy to forget that we suffer for righteousness sake. It's not just the big-ticket decisions that cause suffering. It can be the small hourly ones that we feel hardly matter.

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you that you owe no one anything. Whatever we go through in this life for your sake, you reward us many times over in our spirit. Praise you for how you do it!

Photo by Camerauthor Photos