Monday, October 28, 2019

Genesis 32:25 -28 “Winning by Losing”


OUTLINE: Genesis 32:22-32

1.      32:22-24   Wrestling with God
2.      32:25  The  Touch of God that Hurts  and Heals
3.      32: 26-28    Winning by Losing
4.      32:29-32    Reaching the Place of Blessing

26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

We are considering this pivotal  portion of Scripture in some  greater detail. Jacob has left his uncle Laban, having been with him 20 years, in order that he may return to his own country – the  land of covenant promise. On the eve of meeting his brother Esau (a dreaded encounter), Jacob has an even greater encounter with God. In this we have seen Jacob wrestling with God, though it takes him a while to recognise that he is not just  wrestling with a man, but with God.  Jacob’s fears of what lies ahead  provide a significant obstacle,  and he fights  his antagonist  until daybreak.  At this stage, his antagonist simply touches his hip, and dislocates it.  Jacob now being disabled, instantly understands that he is in the hands of God,  and that he  must not enter  into the unknown without God’s blessing.   One of the reasons  that I wanted us to  dwell for a little while  on this passage  is  that Christians do not  always  make a careful distinction  between the trials that God  brings  upon them, and the  trials  and sufferings they may encounter  as a result of  giving into the flesh, the world and the devil. We are now talking about the fatherly work of God, as He so frequently must wrestle us down to get us into the right kind of   thinking.  In that process   He uses pain to heal us. We learn to win by losing.   Pain is God’s megaphone to get our attention (C.S. Lewis)

We have often said that biblical logic confounds people.  Our often so superficial human logic tells us that bad things cannot come to us from a good God, but biblical  logic  turns that thought on its head. Perhaps the profoundest   illustration of this fact is  the cross of Christ.  What good can come from a crucified Messiah?  Well the Bible  tells  us  that   what  men meant for evil by  crucifying the Lord of glory  has become  a glorious victory  for God’s people! The Lord Jesus won by losing His life!  The apostle Paul  says that  he gained  everything in Christ, by  losing  his  former reputation as a Pharisee (Phil 3:4-11).

The story of Jacob’s wrestling with the angel of God is also such a story. And it doesn’t come to us naturally.  It took Jacob quite a while before he  had understood  that  this wrestling match   against this perceived  man (an enemy of the mind),  - that this wrestling  was actually to  become  a  source of blessing and  spiritual growth   for him.  We had made the observation  two weeks ago that  so very often  we are  having battles in our minds with people,  when  in reality that battle is  actually  with God,  who leading this charge to subdue  us and to bless us.  This was   my experience in 1985,  when I  struggled for at least  6 months   with my work  and circumstances,   before I realized  that God  was  struggling with me to get me to the place where  I would submit to the call to enter  the  full-time pastoral ministry. Once I did that  with the blessing of Eastside’s  pastor,  Charles Whitson and members,  I entered  theological  seminary in 1986.  Whilst studying,  I  did internships  at Mowbray Baptist Church and later  at Bellville Baptist Church, before accepting the call to Eastside Baptist Church in  1990. That call to Eastside was  also preceded by a short period of intense wrestling as  I needed to  discern what God’s will for my life was.

It may take us a   while (and sometimes only with hindsight)   to see that our circumstances and “co-incidences”   are really “God-incidences”.   God, in His sovereign wisdom allows us to wrestle with Him  to the point of exhaustion,  so that we may truly learn to let go  of our own  plans and ideals, embracing His sovereign  plan  and leading.   This wrestling may continue short or long, yet  when it comes, it comes  suddenly  and decisively – and with the slightest of touches. You will know about it. In an instant, a short moment, Jacob has been transformed from what appears to be a wrestler of equal  status  into a  helpless  worm, and instantly his perspective changes. He learns to win by losing.  
What happens now,   that he knows that he has been disabled and robbed of his own strength by God? Will he be left dangling and vulnerable? Will his  wrestling match with God just end there – as a defeat? 
No! We shall see that this wrestling contest which he loses shall actually lead him forward, as he now understands that  he must  cling to  the God-man (a perfect description of Jesus – by the way!) - clinging to him with all the strength that is left in a desperate man, and it is a good thing.  Paul learned this   precious practical doctrine,  which he  speaks about in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. In this letter he reflects upon his immense struggles as an apostle. The outcome of  his  struggles  was that he had learned to cling  to  God,  and so he confesses,  “When I am weak, then I am strong“, stated alternatively,  I win  by losing“.  
Let this sort of thinking  guide our Christian mind, when it comes to these  moments when God is strongly at work   in wrestling  our strong self- confidences to the ground.  When He has done that, then we  must not lick our wounds in self- pity.  We must now cling to God and say to Him, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  
Will God let Jacob go without a blessing?  V. 26. “Let me go, for the day has broken…”.  But Jacob will not let God go.  He must  have his blessing.

Now remember that  God has already  blessed him. Remember that the covenantal promises   that God made to Abraham and Isaac have belonged to Jacob, from before his birth (Gen. 25).  This promise  was further  affirmed by  his father  Isaac  in Gen. 28:4: “May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”
It was confirmed to Jacob once again  in  that incredible dream in Gen. 28:13-15  when God said to Him,   “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

What other blessing does he then need?  When you are emotionally and physically   exhausted by a soul and body draining encounter, you would be typically left without strength  and the  will to continue.  At such a time you need further assurance of God’s blessing. The temptation to run away after such spiritual battles is known as the Elijah syndrome (1 Kings 17). Jacob teaches us  that following a long hard season of  wrestling we should  cling tightly to  God.  Such times of brokenness and  exposures of weakness need   more  assurance  from  God  in terms of His covenantal love and blessing.  This is what  Jacob did, and the prophet Hosea   in Hosea 12 :3, 4  puts it  like that: 
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favour. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us...  
Hosea tells us   that Jacob  clung to God with weeping, asking him  to  meet him with favour!  Truly this was  the hour of Jacob’s inward defeat. He had  lost the wrestling  match. He has now  learned who was truly Master of his life, and He held on to Him. Yes, he has lost the contest, but he knows now that  winning  means  clinging  more on to God –  or to use NT language , abiding in Christ (John 15)- and thus more fruitfulness.

But do we realize what we are asking, when we are asking God to bless us, and show us more of Himself?   
James and John did not know what they were asking when they asked Jesus that they might be blessed by sitting next to him in glory (Mk.  10:35-40). Jesus said to them,  You do not know what you are asking  (Mk. 10:38).  The truth is this;   having more of God  and more of His blessing  means  to have  less  of our old  Jacob in us.  That is why ultimately Jacob (‘heel catcher’/ deceiver) must receive a new name:  Israel  (he strives with /clings to God).  This is the sanctifying work of God, and it is  all about wrestling us down. It is painful as we must grow less dependent upon our own  abilities  and rest more in His ability. But, take heart!

THE INCREDIBLE GRACE OF GOD

See with what incredible grace God handles Jacob. He asks him a question.  What is your name? This is not for God’s benefit. He knows everything about Jacob. This is for Jacob’s benefit.  The name of a man was expressive of a person’s birth circumstances  and  character.  And so God asks, “Who are you?" Jacob answers,“I am Jacob  the heel catcher, the  deceiver,…”. And God answers, “Your name shall no longer be  called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 
In  telling his name Jacob  is made to face himself, and his past. But  this is not where he gets stuck. Jacob is now helped to see that  his destiny is not rooted in the past, but in the present work of God. He is now  called “Israel“ -  The name means  ‘he strives with God‘  (the ‘el’ ending  denotes the Hebrew name for God).
This is the great turning point of the story of Jacob. Please note that the name Jacob does not fall away entirely.  This name  keeps on appearing  in the rest  of  OT Scripture, and  this is true for our fallen natures. We never get quite rid of our old man,  until Jesus  comes  and  first progressively delivers us from the presence of sin, and finally  at our glorification He delivers us also from the presence of sin. 

Sometimes people have felt that this story is the story of Jacob’s conversion. No!  Firstly,  we have seen that God had already  chosen  Jacob in eternity. He has already communicated  his covenant promises to him. Then there  was   the first  experiential encounter with God  in the 28th  chapter, at Bethel. And now here  at Peniel ..."I have seen God face to face..."  (Gen. 32:30), there  was another  milestone of  Jacob’s walk with God and of  God’s work in him. This is  a picture of the  great saving work of God in its totality. And in  NT  terms we would say  that he  has been  brought into greater conformity  with  Christ.  He gained more  of  God  by losing more of himself!

APPLICATIONS  

1.              Expect crisis experiences in your walk with God.  God uses these  to progressively cleanse and sanctify you.  
2.               The way up is the way down. We  win by losing.
3.        Learn to look at life spiritually; be particularly sensitive to times of spiritual difficulty and always ask, “What is God doing?” Consider God always as the FIRST CAUSE of your experience.
4.         Remind yourself  of the fact that if God is the FIRST CAUSE of your experience (and not merely the result of wicked men – such as  was the experience  of Jacob’s  son, Joseph when he was sold into slavery by his brothers)- then you are in good hands.
5.           Such experiences ultimately  provide  you  with the best form  of  assurance that God loves you. God disciplines those whom he loves (Hebr.12). He is treating you as sons.
6.            Expect God to change you  into His image. Jacob  becomes Israel.  John Newton: “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am”.  
7.               Remember  that God’s method is  helping you to win  confidence in Him  by first  making you lose confidence in your own ability. Do not be disturbed if this experience  does not agree with modern thinking.  This is a true biblical experience. It is the winning way.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Genesis 32:25 “The Touch of God that Hurts and Heals”


OUTLINE: Genesis 32:22-32

1.      32:22-24   Wrestling with God
2.      32:25  The  Touch of God that Hurts  and Heals (Today's Focus Text) 
3.      32: 26-28    Winning by Losing
4.      32:29-32    Reaching the Place of Blessing

Last time we focused upon the wrestling of Jacob with God, and the loneliness of Jacob’s experience in that wrestling. Our exposition focuses on those times when God  wrestles  us into submission. I believe that this experience relates uniquely to God’s covenant people, and this experience relates to the reality of remaining sin in God's people. 

Although God’s people have been cleansed  from  the power of original sin,  and are justified through Christ’s  death, they will still have to  face  the sin  of the world, the flesh and the devil.  They are not slaves to these, but they have to fight these   on a continuous  basis with the help of God.  God, because He is our Father, and because He loves His children, continues  to  deliver  His children from the presence of sin.  Although these times are not happy experiences in themselves (in fact, they can be very painful, since sin has deep tentacles), we saw that when God is behind these trials (e.g. James 1:2-4; Hebr. 12:3-11), they will ultimately always serve to strengthen us. These times will ultimately increase our joy, as freedom is increasingly experienced from the slavery of  remaining sin.  Truly, God  hurts in order  to heal.

We saw that the angel of the LORD met Jacob at the Jabbok river[1]. It was there, that God allowed Jacob  to wrestle with   Him through the night and until day break. We   will now   consider that process – that Job like experience,  the wrestling and the touch of  God, which  hurt  Jacob and healed him at the same time. 

24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 

We will consider this experience by means of asking three questions

1.         Why did this have to happen?  
2.         What did actually happen?
3.         How did this experience change Jacob?  (Six Lessons)

1. Why did this wrestling have to happen? 

a. This had to happen, because Jacob was chosen by God (25:23). He was chosen, even though he was an imperfect human being. To that end the Divine Potter will shape this unruly, sin infected chosen lump of clay for His own purposes and for His own glory.  This experience is described here in terms of wrestling. Whatever the nature of that wrestling is, we cannot say. In context, it would probably be the fear of the unknown, as Jacob must settle back into the promised land, with so many great responsibilities, and also as covenant head, a time when his name  will be changed to Israel ( He strives with God). God allows Jacob to strongly  engage him. The pain is Jacob’s – not God’s. He will have the limp at the end of the day.  He needs to be humbled. He is chosen to be conformed to God’s will. 

b. This had to happen, because Jacob was also a son of Adam – a sinner. We have seen   earlier that Jacob was an accomplished sinner. He was a schemer and deceiver. Jacob was as yet an unfinished product in the hands of God. Jacob was work in progress.  This is true of all true believers, redeemed from Adam’s curse. And,  the more responsibility God has for  His chosen vessel, the greater will have to be the chastening and disciplining process. We know that God has a great work to do  for Jacob(see  God’s choice  of Paul  as an apostle , and the  suffering  that  goes with that. Acts 9:15,16)
In this process God appears  to Jacob as an enemy. What? Surely God is not an enemy of His chosen vessel? The Bible declares that He is our friend! He is for us. Yes, that is true, but remember that God is no friend of the remaining sin in His  people.  For this reason He will purify us. He will struggle with us until we abandon self – will, self -reliance and follow Him, meekly like a lamb - like a broken horse. Ultimately we must learn what the apostle Paul learned.  We are weak people in the hands of a mighty God. Paul  learned that  “God’s grace is sufficient for me, for God’s power is made perfect in weakness… for when I am weak then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:8-10). 

God is teaching us through  wrestling  lessons of  humility, obedience and trust.  These don’t come naturally to us.  Wrestling is a very good analogy   of the nature of spiritual life.  The Christian wrestles in many fronts. We wrestle with the powers of darkness (Eph. 6:10ff) because they are contrary to the life of God in us.  But we also wrestle with God, because our remaining sin is contrary to His nature in us.  We need to learn to distinguish between the two. The outcomes are vastly different.  When we wrestle with God, He hurts to heal us. When we wrestle with the flesh, the world and  the devil, we  struggle  to escape  the hurt that will destroy  us. Pray that you will have the ability to see in your own wrestlings what is happening. When God is at work, embrace your sufferings. When Satan is at work, resist him and the sin  by which he seeks to entangle you, and he will flee from you.   In this case we have Jacob  who needed  to be purified   from remaining sin and assured  that God was with him in  this journey… this is  seen in v.26. “I will not let you go unless you bless me”.

2. What  did actually happen?

a. God confronts Jacob at the  river Jabbok. God  confronted him on the eve of a new phase in his life, for which Jacob needed to be prepared.  

b. Jacob initially felt that  it was a man  that wrestled  with him. Initially  it  was not apparent  to Jacob that it was God.   This wrestling  is happening in Jacob’s mind  and soul. You can relate to this. You sometimes have battles  in which you  struggle with someone in  your mind  – sometimes even  to the  point of exhaustion.  Sometimes   these struggles even may  keep us  awake all night!  What you  may not always appreciate  is that this  battle that you are having in your mind is not actually with  a person, but with God!  Jacob’s antagonist  had not revealed himself as an angel. In Jacob’s  mind this is a man, and Jacob engages the man in his mind as  an  enemy.

It must have had  to do with  what was lying ahead for  Jacob. In Jacob’s mind  he was  perhaps thinking of  his estranged brother Esau.  Esau was a powerful, fearful  figure  in Jacob’s mind.  20 years earlier he had  to flee  from him for his life,  hiding in the home of his uncle Laban, for Esau had threatened to kill him (27:41).  What is clear is that Jacob has an antagonist before him.  He wrestles tenaciously with this man of mystery in the dark.   They appear to have been evenly matched until,  at daybreak, the  man    simply touched  his hip sockets, and the battle was instantly over! The Hebrew language apparently employs  a mild term  for this touch – like the touch  of  Isa 6:7, where the angel  touched Isaiah’s lips with a live  coal.  A light touch, not a heavy, crushing blow  – and it was over!

c. The turning point!   It is only now in v.25 that Jacob discovered that this man had supernatural powers, when at the mere touch of his hip-joint   he became disabled. This experience of pain changes everything.  Truly, “pain is God’s megaphone to get the attention of a deaf world” [2] (C.S. Lewis).  Until this moment  he was fighting and he was not giving an inch  the whole night. Now that his hip is painfully out of joint, he  is physically incapacitated. He cannot wrestle any longer, but what he does now   is that he clings to the man, and in v.26   (at daybreak) the man says to him  “let me go!”  Jacob  refuses to let him go,"I will not let you go unless you bless me“. This is the turning point  in which  something dies in Jacob. He is humbled. He now knows that he is in the presence of a greater, for he now seeks His blessing. His self-confidence and self- reliance has taken a knock. He now appeals for grace,  “I will not let you go unless you bless me.“ He is now in the place of someone who needs help and assistance.  He was left disabled.  God had touched him ever so gently in a vulnerable spot, and left him incapacitated. Thank God that He deals so firmly and yet so gently with us!

3.  Six LESSONS on how this experience changed Jacob

a. Jacob learned  that  God was patiently powerful. God allowed Jacob   to wrestle him  to the point of annoyance , and then by a simple touch , God put him out of action and showed him that  he was  actually  weak, and vulnerable  and dependent. 

b.  Jacob learned that he was going to have to enter Esau’s land  as a weak, vulnerable  man, dependent on God. God did not need  him as a helping hand. God was more than able to sort out Esau, just as He was able to sort out Moses’ Egyptians and  Joshua’s  Canaanites  and David’s Philistines and all of Israel’s enemies. God did not Peter’s sword  to protect Christ from  the enemies who put Him to death.  God’s power was greater than death.  God did not need a strong Jacob. He needed a humble  Jacob, who would listen, for   God had already  decreed Jacob’s  future: “The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.”  (Ps. 33:11). We all need to learn that  natural  ability will not win spiritual battles. Paul says, “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Cor. 10:4).

c.  Jacob  learned that God was  a more formidable  opponent than Esau.  Away with the fear of man. Fear God only! 

d. Jacob learned  that  God is tough and tender.  God  is unyielding when it comes to His own truth and purpose. He will not change His plan to accommodate us; but  He is  graciously tender  in touching  (even with pain) without  destroying us. He is utterly committed to  take sin out of our lives. God has sometimes taken our plans and  put them out of joint in ways we had never expected. Jacob had never thought that he would be away for  20 years. He had anticipated a  short while.  But in all things God works out everything  for the good of those that love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).

e. Jacob learned  that to wrestle, when crippled, is not easy. When the truth of God’s Word eventually wrestles us to the ground, it cripples us. It takes away our false pillars, false securities, pretence  and  our  sense of self reliance    upon which we tend to  want to build our lives. Cripples have to  live by  grace through faith alone. Cripples   are dependent people. They  need someone to help them. If you are blind you need someone to  lead you. If you are lame you need someone to carry you.  When God puts your life out of joint, then  you are finally  brought  to the place  where  He can carry you, He  whose power is without limit, whose mercy  is  without equal, whose grace is always sufficient, whose love  towards His people is  deep  and unquenchable.

f.  We learn  that there  is pain  when God puts our lives out of joint.  As   CS  Lewis  wrote in his book “The problem of Pain” (p.81),  “God  whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains : it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”   All must hear this, but younger people, in particular, must listen now. Your pride, your feelings of being invincible, your prejudices, your plans for your life….  If you are God’s man or woman,  then expect Him  at times to take these plans  and  put them out of joint. That can be painful.

Don’t think that this is the devil spoiling your future.  You are not in the hands of an almighty devil. You are in the hands of an almighty God, who is committed to making you more like Jesus. He is committed to produce in you fruit that will last. He will spur you on to love, humility, obedient service, and prayer until you begin to understand that the life worth living is lived from dependence upon Him alone.  It is to Him that you must learn to cling, like Jacob, and pray, “I will not let you go  unless you bless me.”  We look for the touch that hurts and heals, because we know that this is the hand of God, and it is good. 

[1] Jabbok means wrestling – note  the symbolism  of the place names associated with Jacob’s journey cf. also Mahanaim  Gen. 32:2
[2] C.S. Lewis: The Problem of Pain

Friday, October 11, 2019

Genesis 32:1-21 “Between Fear and Faith”


The struggle between faith and fear is a very real battle for Christians and even seasoned Christians. God however never intended us to set up camp in the middle of the two.

In   Genesis chapters 27&28 we had found Jacob fleeing from his brother Esau, who had threatened to kill him (Gen.27:41). 

In Chapter 28 on his way to his mother’s brother, Laban, Jacob met the LORD in a life changing way. Nobody encounters God and is not changed!  Jacob would later call the place of encounter “Bethel” (house of God), for he said, “Surely  the  LORD  is in this place… How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen. 28:16,17).  God had become real to him, and in Genesis 28:20 -22 we find true words of commitment. He is a changed man.

Chapters 29 – 31  are the record  of Jacob serving  under his deceptive uncle  Laban, and here  he thoroughly  learns  that you will reap what you have sown. Their relationship becomes unbearable, and by God’s command (31:3) he prepares to return to his father, Isaac and  the place of covenant promise. He leaves with a large family, servants and large flocks of animals.

In Genesis 32 we find him nearing the land of his father (where his brother Esau also   lived). Two  things  dominated his thinking:  
(i) He greatly feared his brother Esau’s response (see 32:7,11). 
(ii)  He desperately wanted to appease his brother, for he knew that he had dealt deceitfully with him (see 32:20). 

So then, in Jacob we find a man who is possessed by great fears. He lies awake night after night as he tries to figure out the way forward.   Have you been there?  At  such times our God tends to be small and our enemy  tends to be  big.

Thankfully  the God of the covenant is always  one step ahead of His fearful servants. As we now  come to the 32nd chapter we note that the God who had met with him at Bethel, and who had previously made great promises  to him  (see Gen. 28:13-15; 31:13)  is one step ahead of him.  

Let’s see  now how  Jacob’s life is lived  between  fear  and  faith.

1. Jacob’s protection (32:1-2):  Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God's camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.” (Mahanaim means, ‘two camps’).
Here is a remarkable illustration of God’s wonderful, faith strengthening care for his chosen man ashe moves into the proverbial lion’s den. Jacob is fearful, but thankfully  the  God  of Jacob had  already anticipated  that  fear and had sent His angels (i.e. His ministering spirits cf. Hebr.1:14)  to meet him.  When Jacob saw the angels, he called this place  Mahanaim  (two camps)  -  i.e.  the angel’s camp  (The sense is given  in Ps.  34:7 - The angel of the Lord encamps  around those who fear Him and he delivers them)  and  his own camp.  Jacob, by divine grace was enabled to see something which Elisha’s fearful servant, Gehazi,   was enabled to see in 2 Kings 6:16-17. He was helped to see that the angels of God around them were more than the army of Syria.
So, being given the ability  to see these angels  on his way to a fearful destiny would have strengthened Jacob’s faith, and he would have  known that  that God was indeed with him in this journey back to the promised land.

2. Jacob’s plans (32:3-8): 3 And Jacob sent   messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape”.

Jacob just had a wonderful faith strengthening  encounter with God, and yet  he returns   to  his own scheming in terms of how he should deal with his brother. While Jacob prepares the gift (appeasement) for Esau,  even while he knows that the angels of the LORD encamp around him,  one  can sense his fearful anticipation of this event.  In the message to Esau he  submits to his brother  Esau as his ‘lord’ (32:4- Hebr. “adonai”). And you say,  “Wait a minute!  Was Jacob not appointed by God to  be the ‘lord’ of this land?”   And the answer is, he is the lord of the land, but remember  that Jacob did violate  a biblical principle!  He cheated his brother. He took shortcuts  in getting the birthright and the promise of the firstborn.  Yes, God did appoint  him  to be the lord of the land, but he was to  get there not by wangling and by scheming. He was to do this trusting in God’s work and in God’s timing every step of the way.  

And so, because he has gone about this the wrong way he is now making some very foolish decisions  which are motivated  by  fear! That is what sin does. The essence of sin is self-reliance –not God reliance. Sinful anxiety  makes  Jacob  forget   his    heavenly  protection and inheritance, so that he now begins to cower  before the   intimidating  presence  of  Esau.  When  Jacob  hears that  Esau  comes  to meet  him with 400 men, as  we read  in 32:7, “… Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed”.
And now the  vivid  and real dream of the ladder to heaven  and  the promises of God and Bethel were forgotten. The camp of angels around him was forgotten.

Do we never learn?   Our faith so easily gives way to fear. The thought of 400 men coming to meet him shakes Jacob.  His confidence  in God is quickly diminished. Sin and fear cause us to loose heavenly perspective very quickly. Paul has to remind fearful  and timid Timothy  that  God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self- discipline ( 2 Tim 1:7)  

So,  in rationalizing his fear,  Jacob divides  his  group into two camps (Mahanaim) – but  note (!) the  camp of angels don’t feature  here now! 
In  32:2  Jacob had  two camps,  his little one  and God’s great one.  But now in  32:7  he only sees  his little camp,  which now, on account of fear,   he divides  into two camps!

This always happens when we trust in our own resources.  When we become fearful we become inwardly divided and we  become actually become weaker. The fear of man lays a snare,   but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. (Prov. 29:25).   The fear of man becomes a great snare, for this fear becomes greater than the fear of the LORD.
Jacob recognizes his weakness relative to Esau, but he is not taking stock of his weakness before God!   The  fear of man makes him forget  the principle  of which the apostle Paul had also  had reminded the Corinthians, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…. When I am weak, then I am strong(2 Cor.  12:9,10)

And now, from  fear back to faith …

3. Jacob’s Prayer (32:9-12):  9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

This is Jacob’s prayer. Thank God for the gift of prayer  by which we may present  all our requests to God. It is the true believers  instinct. When the Christian is in trouble he prays. It is his native air. 

Here we see a biblical form of prayer  in which we find:

(i)    A reverent approach (32:9): O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me … An appeal to the covenant keeping God , in whom alone can be our trust and hope.
(ii) A humble approach (32:10): I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.
(iii) A  direct request (32:11):  Please deliver me.  The Psalms are full of such cries. No long words are needed. God is not deaf.
(iv)  An appeal to God’s promise/ covenant (32:12): Standing on the promises … Showing God His own handwriting.  

Note the vacillation between fear and faith.  In this prayer, Jacob is filled with faith, and the content of his prayer is truly wonderful and instructive. The confidence of such a prayer lies in the fact that God is true and faithful to all His promises. Such prayer does not fail, and we shall see that it does not fail here!

4. Jacob’s present:  32 :13-21   13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him  with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”  21 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
Again, let me remind you, that  two thoughts dominate  Jacob’s mind:
(i)               He wants to right  the wrong that he has done  to Esau. 
(ii)             He is not sure that Esau will accept this .

Notice how again he moves from prayer back to his  scheming. George Mueller of Bristol was once asked what the most important part about prayer was. He said, ”The 15 minutes after I have said, “Amen” . How easy it is to come from prayer (faith) back to fear.  15 minutes after  we have prayed we must leave our  Esau’s to God  and not  return to  our plans to bribe our way out of  a difficult  position. 

The  camp of angels  around him must have   begun to wonder whether  he would have  any need of their protection  after all, since he was doing so well  scheming his way through this trial, and so we ask, was this the man who had just uttered this wonderful prayer of faith? Was this the man who had stood on the covenant promises?  Was this the man who had reminded God that he was acting under divine orders?

Next time we will consider 32:22-32 (Jacob wrestling with God). In preparation  for this portion  I remind you that,  where there is no faith there is little sleep – but thank God  that  Jacob is ultimately  in the  hands of a great God, and in our next portion God  will  continue to   shape  Jacob into  a man after His own heart. 

Conclusion and application:

(i)       We were reminded that the presence  of the God of Jacob behind and before   is  also our   guarantee to persevering in  our  trials of life.
(ii)     We have seen  that   our life is so often  a curious mixture  of  faith and fear.
(iii)   We have seen  that reverent, humble, direct  prayer, based on  our confidence in  a covenant  keeping  God strengthens our faith, not by removing all danger and pressure, but by sustaining us through  our trials.
(iv)   We  have seen  that  our best efforts  in trusting God entirely come  short. Faith alternating with fear. This is also typical of our spiritual experience. How thankful we must be then that we are being kept by the grace of God. He is the God of our Exodus from this world into the next. In that process God is indeed the God who is behind us and the God who goes before us. 

Next  time  we shall  see how in that  process,   through it all,  God systematically  conquers us.




EVANGELICAL REPENTANCE #4 : REPENTANCE IS A SPIRITUAL MEDICINE MADE UP OF SIX INGREDIENTS

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