We ALL walk with a limp… maybe not a ‘physical limp’ but a limp, nonetheless. In other words, we have all walked through things in life that have left a mark on us.
Whether it be a broken relationship, or a dysfunctional family situation, or maybe an untimely passing of a loved one… we ALL have walked through hard things. And often, not always, but often, those hard things leave us walking with a limp.
But walking with a limp is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I’d be willing say that walking with a limp is a ‘helpful’ thing.
I 110% understand that limps can be painful, but limps have a way of reminding us of what we’ve walked through. And even more importantly, limps have a way of reminding us of God’s purposes and presence in the midst of the difficult paths we’ve had to walk.
Maybe the greatest ‘limper’ in the story of God is a man named, Jacob. If you’re not familiar with Jacob, well, he was the grandson of Abraham, and the son of Issac and Rebekah. He also had an older brother named, Esau... Jacob was the one who had a dream of a ‘stairway to heaven.’
Jacob is known and remembered for many things, but for me, more than anything, I remember Jacob as the guy who walked with a limp. And his limp, well, it was a direct result of an encounter with God. You can read the full story in Genesis 32, but in short, as a way to help Jacob remember where had walked with God… where he had wrestled with God, Jacob would forever move forward walking with a limp.
After Jacob’s encounter with God, well, he never walked the same way again. And walking in the rough middle eastern terrain with a limp would not have been easy because every step Jacob took… and he took a lot of them with a limp, he was reminded of a moment in time where he encountered God.
We ALL walk with a limp… that’s not the question. The question for us to consider is simply this…
IS YOUR LIMP HURTING YOU OR HELPING YOU?
As we each look back through the many places where we have walked, I’m guessing there have been MANY things we’ve walked through that has left us with a limp of sorts. For a long time, those ‘hard things’ hurt me. Meaning, I allowed those hard moments… those hard stories, to usher things like anger, bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness into how I walked. And consequently, walking with all of that excess baggage hurt not only me, but those that I was walking with.
Today, like you, I walk with a limp, but that limp I walk with is helping me. The limp I walk with helps to remind me of God’s faithfulness and God’s goodness. More than anything, the limp I walk with reminds me of God’s presence. Very specifically, the limp I walk with reminds me that through it all, the good times and the hard times, there has never been a moment where I walked alone.
I don’t know what limp you are walking with today, but I hope… I pray that the limp you walk with is helping you and not hurting you. I hope… I pray that your limp will remind you that through EVERYTHING you’ve had to walk through, you’ve never taken one step alone… your heavenly Father has and will continue to walk with you at a pace of 3 miles an hour.
