S.S. 7:1, “ How a beautiful are your steps in sandals, O prince’s c daughter! The curves of your hips are like jewels, The work of the hands of an artist.”
The Hebrew word “hip” has the meaning of “base” or “foundation.” Solomon praises the Shulumite’s steps, and then speaks of the foundation of our walk with the Lord which is our hips. He says that her hips are the works of the hands of an artist. I believe that one of the most important things that can happen to a believer is for the artist to deal with our hips, because if he doesn’t, we will never be able to walk with the Lord in a way that is beautiful to the Him. Believers often wonder about how to die to self. The truth is, we died to self 2000 years ago in our crucifixion with Christ, but the reality is that usually in a season of crisis and brokenness does a believer come to the place where they say yes to that death to self, and give up on the futile effort of trying to walk with the Lord in the energy of their own strength. It is at that moment where the Lord dislocates our hips, so that foundationally, at the base, we discover that we can’t live the Christian life, no matter how sincerely, by our own self effort, and that the only way we can walk with the Lordin a way that is beautiful to him is for us to utterly depend on him to live his life through us by his strength. Throughout the Old Testament we have examples of people’s hips being smote, or touched by the Lord, resulting in their destruction, or their utter weakness. This is what I mean by the Lord touching and dislocating our emotional and spiritual hips.
When Jacob wrestled with the angel in Genesis 32, the angel, after wrestling with Jacob all night long, touched his thigh, or hip, and dislocated it. In a place of utter weakness Jacob cried out with the Lord to bless him. Hosea 12:4 says that he wept, pleading with the Lord to bless him. The angel, already knowing what Jacob’s name was, asked Jacob to tell him his name. After Jacob spoke his name the angel blessed him and changed his name from Jacob to Israel. You see the name Jacob represents life lived by self effort, even sincerely for the Lord. The word Jacob is the Hebrew word that means “Surplanter, manipulator, controller.” This is how Jacob got the birthright, by lying to his father. This is how Jacob had lived his life before the Lord, and God wanted to hear Jacob confess and own that the base, or foundation of his life was the yuk of self maneuvering, and self strength.
Having confessed his unholy fpundation, God changed his name to Israel, which means “God prevails,” and even at his death Jacob walked with a limp, a sign that his base and foundation had changed to one of faith and utter dependence on God, and the absolute abandonment of the self life.
The Lord will use all kinds of situations and circumstances, and even the works of the enemy to back us into a corner and to break us of trying to live the Christian life by your own strength. It may feel like everything in your life is falling apart, but trust me the hands of the great artist is Himself is at work, dislocating your hip, that you might discover the sheer miracle of daily depending on Jesus to live his life through you, instead of you trying to live your life for him.