left with a limp

^24-25 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.

²⁶ The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.”

Jacob said, “I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me.”

²⁷ The man said, “What’s your name?”

He answered, “Jacob.”

²⁸ 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.”

²⁹ 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.

³⁰ Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!”

^31-32 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.)

Genesis 32, The Message

……………………………………………

I needed to hear from GOD.

Sought Holy Spirit.

Cried out for Jesus.

Only silence.

And my own enclosed, enchanting, echoing thoughts.

Remembering that GOD speaks in mysterious ways, through the unexpected, lamenting voices of our generation- Vedder, Cornell, Arnold. Among others.

So as I’m driving home, I press on the radio, then tap my two presets to our local rock stations ( shout out…97.9 CPR ROCKS and 101.5 THE ROCK Station). Neither of which is playing anything but advertisements at the moment. Rare.

In the mood to hear something, anything, however, I hit the infamous SCAN button.

And after a few touches, a sermon-lesson is discussing a story in the life of Jacob. A story that I’ve always found fascinating. (Or “satisfying” in the new favorite word of my 10 year old daughter).

The one where Jacob wrestles with GOD. Or the angel of GOD. Or a man of GOD. Peniel.

I’ve even used the name Peniel in my first novel twenty years ago (yes, yes…this is a horrifically shameful plug…but I’ll still include the link below. Just in case. Ha.)

I usually don’t listen to these radio messages.

They tend to piss me off. Fake and artificial.

But with the topic and person, I linger. Loiter. Listen.