Not every limping of God is in the flesh, as with Jacob. For some it is a thorn, as with Paul, for others it is a grief, an illness, an insecurity, or a psychological stressor; but the grace of God that strengthens to the standing and moving in faith is the same, and it is sufficient (II Cor. 12:9).
In Messiah you are not broken, you are whole; sometimes you just limp in the natural differently than you faith neighbor. The Holy Spirit is there to support you, as promised. Walk with the limp God has prepared you for, and His grace will overcome in every step.
Jacob prayed for deliverance from Esau and the 400 men moving in his direction; while immediately attempting self-preservation and deliverance by dividing his camp, and sending tribute.
Then, out of nowhere, God appears and wrestles Jacob to keep him still long enough for Esau to be changed by grace, not bribery. Grace, having done its work, leads brothers, once bitter enemies, to embrace and weep in each other’s arms: forgiveness and restoration (Gen. 32:22 – 33:4).
There are times when the Lord restrains us in order for His grace to do its work along the way He is preparing.
Paul opens his letter to Timothy, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,” (I Tim. 1:1).
Paul is writing from a Roman prison cell. “Apostle” in Greek and Hebrew simply means one sent. Paul, “a sent one,” sitting in a Roman cell? An old cistern, dark and dank, 19 feet beneath the ground? Chariots and foot traffic rolling over this apostle of Messiah’s head as if he is not there?
In prison he’s an apostle? Yes, unreservedly, yes! even in that buried cell, he is still sent from God.
Paul had seen the glory of the Jerusalem Temple. He sat with the greatest teachers. He saw the glory of Yeshua/Jesus on the road to Damascus. He spread the Gospel to nations. Hoping to arrive in Rome in freedom, yet he arrived in chains. Is this his end?
How is he able to keep such a vision of his call, when it appears that his end will be in a cell? Yeshua.
“For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day,” (II Tim. 1:12).
There is not a line of self-pity in either of the letters to Timothy. Why? He knows in whom he has trusted, and both he and the work committed to him will be kept into glory, it will not be buried in Rome, as it is the work of the resurrected Messiah.
Rome tossed Paul into a cell, perhaps, in their view, to a meaningless end; yet, the empire of Rome that sought his end, ended up in the dustbin of history itself: relics of greatness amid the continued witness of Messiah to the world.
If you are feeling that your present circumstance will bring to an end the work the Lord set you to, fear not, Paul did not end in a cell, he reached the goal of his race, Yeshua Himself.
the mountain mensch 