There’s an old Irish blessing that goes something like this:
Limping bird (Photo credit: HarlanH)
May those who love us, love us; and those who don’t love us, may God turn their hearts; and if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we’ll know them by their limping.
I need to make an admission. I will disclose that, in regard to loving God (and in recognizing His love toward us all), I’m occasionally caught limping in the sight of God. Well, if I am truly honest, I appear to be limping a lot more often than I appear to be walking. The thought of running is right out of the question.
I recall that self-actualized parent of a mute child in the Book of Mark who told it like it is: “I do believe Lord, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:17-24). Though we may all think we have loved God back for all He has done for us, do we (or can we) really “grok” the depth or breadth of His love, care, concern, or compassion? Do we truly believe that His hand is extended toward us at all times, during the good, the bad and the ugly?
When we’re not “feeling a lot of love”, perhaps we’re becoming a bit downcast due to the way things are going…maybe we got passed by for a promotion at work, or that long sought-after milestone life event we’ve been working so hard to achieve never materialized. Perhaps personal tragedy has darkened our doorstep, such as the death of a loved one or the breakup of a long-term relationship. Does that mean that God’s eye is not still on us? His eye is on the sparrow, is it not? Could it really be because He is somehow preoccupied with something else that is more important or more interesting?
I truly believe we’re blessed in spite of ourselves. A popular radio host has a standard response to callers who are brought into his nationally syndicated show who start by nervously asking the host, “How are you?” His response is consistently and simply stated: “Better than I deserve.”
Perhaps I am reading too much into it, though this response is impressive to me because it reflects an inherent recognition of two fundamental concepts (that if we’re not careful, we tend to look past and then find ourselves repeatedly stumbling over):
- God’s inherent goodness is ever-present, even when we may not recognize it. He is able. He is sovereign. He wants the best for us.
- I am not God. We ought to recognize and admit our own frailty and weakness. We are hardly ever able. We are not sovereign over much of anything. We invariably want “the best” for us. God’s definition and our definition of “the best” may not match up.
Matthew 5 documents the time where Jesus indicated the meek would inherit the earth. How exactly do we end up having “Got Meek”? I’ve heard about “Got Milk?” and I’ve mastered that one. But this meekness of which you speak, it seems pretty obvious that just pretending to be meek won’t go over very well. “Either you is or you ain’t”, it is really that simple. It is something to _be_ (a.k.a. a natural outcome of attitude and belief), not something to _do_ (i.e. not out of self-promotional works, as a goal to be obtained, if that makes any sense. Hopefully, you’re still reading.)
I believe dependency is required for meekness to “happen”. Dependency, in turn, begins with awareness. Awareness of our awfully clear and doggedly consistent insufficiency. It follows us around. It camps out with us wherever we go. Try as we might, we don’t often measure up very well. In short, we walk with a “spiritual limp”. Like toilet paper stuck to our shoe, we don’t even seem to know it is there, and furthermore it has been there for who knows how long?
The bad news is: it may take some time to develop the maturity needed for us to recognize that (a) I am not really “the master of my own destiny” when I get right down to it, and (b) I may need some help from time to time. It’s not like I can just punch ‘My Destiny’ into Google maps and voila, it will show me step by step directions how to get there. I like Google Maps as much as the next guy, though the app is not _that good_ (at least yet. I’ve heard through the grapevine that ‘destiny navigation support’ is coming in the next release).
We’re really not much more advanced than the toddlers and infants around us, we just pretend a little better (maybe) and certainly we try harder to cover it up. How often have you seen a child struggling at something until they finally collapse on the floor and begin crying? When all it would have taken would have been for them to pause and ask an adult, “Could you help me with this?” A few seconds later the problem would be solved and everybody would move on with life.
I believe sometimes that is all the Lord expects from us, no matter how old we might be. Something in our DNA makes it really difficult for us to simply ask God for some help. I believe God is waiting (as He is ever mindful) and is anxious to help, if we would only do the reaching out part. If only we would vocalize those words.
God knows our thoughts, yes, he knows us better than we know ourselves. Yet, who is doing the growing at that point in time? Does God benefit in any way when we humble ourselves enough to vocalize or reach out? Not really, though (spoiler alert) we tend to find out something about ourselves (and just where we stand in the bigger scheme of things) when these pleas, these supplications are initiated by us.
In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles all night with “an Angel” (I believe this to be yet another instance of the pre-incarnate Christ showing up in the Old Testament), and when it was all said and done, Jacob walked away with a limp. Throughout the rest of his life, Jacob had a very physical, tangible reminder of how the Lord has impacted his life. Paul also had his “thorn in the flesh”. I believe this is (ironically for some) one way in which the Lord chooses to share the intimacy of personal relationship.
Regarding the account of Jacob’s “all night wrestling match”, J. Vernon McGee comments:
“Jacob is just holding on; he’s not wrestling. He is just holding on to this One. He found out that you do not get anywhere with God by struggling and resisting. The only way that you get anywhere with Him is by yielding and just holding on to Him. Abraham had learned that, and that is why he said amen to God. He believed God, and He counted it to him for righteousness. Abraham reached the end of his rope and put his arms around God. My friend, when you get in that condition, then you trust God. When you are willing to hold on, He is there ready to help you.”
Thank goodness there’s no penalty for “holding” with God! We’re really making a choice when we decide to hold on (and to keep holding on for dear life) to God and His promises and His chastening and His blessing. We’re choosing our desperation. We can either be desperate for things to get better on their own (or through our herculean efforts), or we can be desperate for God.
I would encourage everyone I know and love to beg to have the attitude of walking with a limp. I can only say that in my personal experience, I feel more grounded and better about how things turn out when I don’t feel like I have to say “I did it my way” (that was a reference to a famous song if you missed it). I’d much prefer to walk with a limp if that’s what it takes to live in alignment with God. I’d rather limp forever if it serves as a reminder to my flesh, a counter to my tendency to think I am something when in reality I am nothing without God.
