“So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.”
Genesis 32:24-25
For the past 1.5 years, I’ve been living with an annoying herniated disc, which causes sciatica down my left leg. It’s not painful, but it’s constant and nagging enough to be a minor inconvenience in my life. It reminded of this strange story in Genesis when God wrestled with Jacob and injured Jacob’s hip. This wrestling match was a significant shift in Jacob’s story. After Jacob’s wrestling match with God, God changed the trajectory of Jacob’s life; God even changed Jacob’s name from Jacob (which means freeloader or deceiver) to Israel (one who struggles with God). It’s a reminder to me that when God’s grace first appears in a person’s life, it often doesn’t feel like grace; it can even feel painful. I’ve yet to see how my herniated disc plays a role in my own story, but I’m trusting it’s God’s grace in the making.