The Old Testament patriarch Jacob exited the womb with a hand on his twin brother’s heel as if to say, “I want the top spot.” A triumph of irony, this was: Jacob beginning life the way he would live it, grasping for a better position. Jacob’s nickname was Deceiver, and deceive he did.
Prodigy? No. Prodigal? That word fits. Jacob never fed the pigs, but he did wrestle in the mud with, if not God, someone like God. Jacob pinned him down and begged for a blessing. And the blessing came, but at a cost. Jacob was given a new name: Israel. But Israel’s hip was out of joint.
Sound familiar? Jacob’s story is for you. Jacob’s story is for limpers like me. And you know, God never gives up on limpers.
