Many intriguing features in Jacob’s walk with God
are described in the Book of Genesis. One of them is the way in which God dealt
with Jacob’s fears, and that issue is one of the concerns of this chapter. In
Genesis 32, Jacob is obviously worried about an imminent meeting with his
brother Esau. Should he have been concerned?
On the one hand, we could say yes. After all, his
last news about Esau was twenty years old and at that time he wanted to kill
his brother for taking his father’s blessing by deceit. Jacob had no idea if
Esau was still angry about that incident. On the other hand, we could say no.
During those twenty years, God had shown his powerful care of Jacob many times.
Even here in verse 1, Moses records a special meeting with Jacob’s camp and a
host of angels, which should have been a great encouragement to Jacob because
their appearance was a reminder that he was protected by the armies of the
Lord.
So how did Jacob deal with this difficult situation?
Moses mentions three responses of Jacob. First, he tried to be friends with
Esau; second, he prayed about the situation; third, he assumed that Esau could
be placated by lots of gifts. The first response was common sense; the second
response was a prayer that expressed, at least, surface trust in God; and the
third response suggested careful thinking about the problem.
The first response of Jacob sending several messengers
to Esau backfired. They made contact, but they failed to find out what Esau
thought about Jacob. What should we make of the message he gave them to pass on
to Esau? To begin with, we can see that the message of Jacob to Esau made no
mention of God. Instead it reads like the claim of a self-made man who had
prospered well during his time with Laban. Further, the message to Esau reads
as if Jacob had not previously received the birthright and the blessing from
God – Jacob gives to Esau the title and position that Esau should have been
giving to him (lord, your servant Jacob). If these were the only words of Jacob
that we had, we would not think that he feared God.
So Jacob now felt that he had to pray (32:9-12),
which is always a good sign. In many ways his prayer is very commendable,
indeed Spurgeon in one of his sermons calls it ‘Jacob’s Model Prayer’. We can
see that in his prayer Jacob addresses God appropriately as the covenant God of
his fathers, that he reminds the Lord of his recent requirement to go home. He
confesses his unworthiness of all the evidences of God’s loving faithfulness to
him over the past two decades. He presents his concern in very clear terms (v.
11) and reminds the Lord that he cannot allow Jacob’s family to be harmed
without breaking his previous promises. He mentions the cause of his concern in
plain words that are easy for others to understand.
No comments:
Post a Comment