So What?!... I Have A Crutch!

I have heard many people say that we as Christians have a crutch.  That we need a crutch.  Every time we bring up the Word, that’s our crutch.  That religion is just a crutch.  That Jesus is just a crutch.  Blah, blah, blah and so on, and so forth… That it’s an excuse that we make as Christians, to make somebody or something else responsible for what we do.  I’ve heard it all.  All the critics.  All kinds of reasoning as to who Christians are and why they act the way they do and all God is to us, is a crutch.  But I want you to know, as I shared with the members of my church recently… that’s exactly right.  God is a crutch.  And so what?!...  I have a crutch! 

Not too long ago I was meditating on the Scripture where Jacob was wrestling with the Angel of the Lord (Genesis 32).  The Scripture says he wrestled all night long with an ‘I will not let go until you bless me attitude.’  You see, I believe that Jacob had gotten to a breaking point, the point of no return and he made up his mind that he was going to see a change in his life, one way or another.  God instructed to go back to his hometown, where he believed his brother Esau was out to kill him.  So he let his servants along with his livestock, all go ahead of him divided in droves, for fear of his life.  And he sent his wives, Rachel and Leah, separately to another place along with his children, to hide them.  And Jacob was left alone. 

And then he met a man.  And the Scripture says he wrestled with that man until the man broke a piece of his thigh and then the Scripture says, the man changed his name to Israel, because he (Jacob) as a prince has wrestled with God and prevailed.   (So we know who the man was, don’t we?).  But Jacob walked away with a limp.

If we are to be truly victorious people of God, we all must have had a breaking experience.  We’ve all had to get to a point where we make up our minds, one way or the other; we’re in it for the long haul.  We’re tired of the way things have gone and we want and need change.  It’s a point where we have come to the end of ourselves, fearful of what will come in our lives if we don’t change.  It’s a place we finally come to the realization that we can do nothing of ourselves, that we need God.  That we need the Lord, to keep us, to cover us, to grace us to do whatever task is before us.

We all, like Jacob, must come to that place and once we do should have some sort of a sign as a result of that breaking.  A scar, a mark that says we have been broken.  Our will has been set aside for the Master’s use.   We’ve wrestled with our emotions, ourselves, our destiny, our purpose and we’ve wrestled with God.  And as princes, we’ve prevailed, but we walk away from all that wrestling with a limp.  A limp that will cause us to depend on God’s strength alone to carry us.  But the best part of it all is because we have a limp, we recognize the need to have a crutch.  Some kind of assistance to help us to stand.  And that crutch is God.  So what, if I have a crutch?! 

And what exactly is a crutch?   Well, I looked it up.  One definition says, “It’s a device used for assistance or support”; another says, “Something that supports or sustains.”  Last time I checked God is a Sustainer.  He’s also a very present help.  So what does that make Him?  A crutch.  He is your support.  He is your assistance.  He helps you to stand. 

Those times when you get over something, when you forgive (when your flesh tells you otherwise), when you need strength to go on, God has been your crutch.  Helping you to stand through it all.  Those times when you just don’t think you can do it on your own, when you needed peace, when you needed comfort, when you needed joy.  God has been your crutch.  Right by your side encouraging your soul.  Helping you to continue to believe and to hope, and to dare, and to dream and to walk on.  God is our crutch.

Since I’ve been saved, I don’t walk the same.  I have been broken.  I walk with a limp, sometimes it’s painful, but it’s always victorious!  And my limp serves as a reminder that I have been broken.  That I have wrestled with God over some things and in some ways I have prevailed, because I am still here!  I’ll gladly take the limp because it helps me to remember that I can do nothing on my own.  That I need God.  That I need the Lord Jesus Christ.  That I need the Holy Spirit.  That I need Him to give me guidance and direction.  To give me peace.  To give me hope and a future.  To fulfill His purpose, His will for my life on the earth.  So what if I have a crutch!    

And because you have refused to let go, you received your breaking and your blessing.  Just like Jacob.  And you got the limp AND the crutch to prove it!  Just ask the ones insulting you. 

God is real.  And He is holding you up.  As the song says, “It’s the power of God that keeps holding me up, holding me up, holding me up.  It’s the power of God that keeps holding me up, He keeps on holding me up!”  God keeps on holding you up!  Just like a crutch.

Be blessed.

Sis. E

http://butgodisreal.blogspot.com/

http://sis.e.home.comcast.net

http://www.ongoodground.org