Genesis 32:1-21 – Gripped With Fear
Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau and instructed them to say, “Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.” - Gen. 32:4-5. Maybe Jacob called him lord to ease any concerns Esau may have on Jacob coming to claim lordship over him.
The messengers brought no message back from Esau other than reporting Esau was coming and had 400 men with him. Oh, no! Jacob knew that he could not defeat Esau. Jacob was in great fear and distress so he divided his people and his flocks into 2 groups. Then if Esau came to attack one group, the other group could escape.
Jacob knew the pain of deception and what it meant to be taken advantage of. Now he understood how Esau felt. Guilt and fear produced panic. So Jacob turned to God and prayed. – Gen. 32:9-12.
Jacob’s prayer was a good example of how we should pray. Each part of the prayer is important, because it guides the focus on God and not the situation. God loves for us to plead His own promises back to Him. Jacob’s prayer was a mature prayer, a sign that he was growing. He didn’t complain to God or second guess Him. He didn’t blame God for putting him in this situation or point his finger at God.
Before he prayed, he showed fear and guilt. His attitude changed after he prayed. Instead of running away he stayed the night. He was not just sorry. He repented. To repent means to be convicted, to be sorry and turn away from sin.
Principle: When fear grips you, rely on God through believing prayer.
Jesus’ death removed the barrier between us and God. Now we can take everything to God. Prayer is a place of truth. It’s where we invite the truth. The truth will set you free. It’s a place for healing, hope and purpose. It transforms fear to faith and cleans out our hearts by confessing our sins.
God desires a relationship with you. His scriptures are His way of speaking to you and your prayers are His way of hearing from you. He wants you to spend time with Him. It breaks His heart to see you walk through life without Him. He is more concerned with your relationship with Him, which is eternal, than He is with your current comfort, which is temporary.
Next, out of Jacob’s wealth he prepared enormous gifts and sent them ahead to Esau hoping to appease his anger. Jacob spent the night in camp. These gifts were several herds of all kinds of animals: goats, sheep, camels, cows, and donkeys.
Genesis 32:22-32 – Broken But Blessed
Jacob said all the right things to God, but was not ready to fully trust Him. Scriptures say that night Jacob wrestled with “the man”. This was Jesus Himself. Why did they struggle? We know that God could overpower him, because God’s power is infinite. This may have been to test Jacob’s persistence. They struggled all night. Jacob wanted His blessing and would do anything for it. Jacob wouldn’t let the man go until he blessed him. The man gave in and changed Jacob’s name to Israel, because he struggled with God. “Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” – Gen. 32:28. Hosea 12:4-5 tells us that it was Jesus he struggled with. This new name was significant. It was a sign of a new place with and a new phase of faith.
Prior to this encounter, Jacob had always overcome and prevailed over people through trickery and deceit. But there in this spiritual warfare and his encounter with God, he hung on and didn’t give up until God blessed him.
As they wrestled God touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it. When we wrestle with God we lose, but we also win. Jacob was left with a limp to remind him of God’s power is perfect in our weakness. Jacob did not force God to bless him, because you cannot force God to do anything. Jacob just realized and accepted God’s blessing. Jacob was always interested in spiritual things, but now he personally knew God.
God was the aggressor here. Jacob was only defending himself. God wanted to bring Jacob to the end of his self-dependence. All Jacob’s life he had struggles and schemed to get the blessing he thought was taken from him. Now he was his own enemy. God had to wrestle him into submission to reveal this to him.
We are all like Jacob. We build things up in our mind. We think there is an enemy out there to get us, when the problem is usually us – our sinful flesh, our selfish nature and desires. So God has to reveal this to us before we can be delivered from it. God could have overpowered Jacob. God can solve our problems immediately, but He wants to see if we will surrender.
Principle: God blesses us as we cling to Him in our brokenness.
Genesis 33:1-20 – The Reunion
Jacob made peace with God and his deception, but has no idea how Esau felt. Jacob finally met up with Esau. Both Jacob and Esau had changed over the years. Jacob showed great humility and bowed 7 times as Esau approached. God changed Esau’s attitude and heart. When Esau saw Jacob, he ran to meet him. They met with an embrace. They kissed and wept together. Both were very happy to see each other. This reunion is powerful beyond words. It was not one-sided. Both had felt the pain of a broken relationship and now they rejoiced in tears at the restoration.
This reminds me of the story Jesus told about the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. When the prodigal returns, the father sees him a long way off and runs to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him. We see Esau extending grace toward Jacob who is the prodigal.
Forgiveness can produce many emotions. Jacob did not deserve the kiss and the embrace. Notice he never confessed the wrong he had committed against Esau or asked forgiveness. Jacob insisted Esau accept the gifts he had brought for him. Esau tried to refuse the gifts and offered to accompany Jacob and his family back to Esau’s home. This showed that Esau was not selfish.
Jacob acknowledged Esau and reconciled with him. Esau forgave Jacob. The broken relation was mended. Wouldn’t it be great if all broken relationships ended that way? We break our relationship with God over and over when we sin. We hurt God with our disobedience and rebellion. God doesn’t have to forgive us, but He does.
Principle: Because God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus, we can reconcile with each other.
Esau’s home was in Seir which was later known as Edom. He asked Jacob to travel with him to Seir, but Jacob lied and made excuses. He should have told him that God wanted him to go to Bethel. He was right to refuse, but should have been honest. Then after Esau left, Jacob didn’t go to Bethel. He went to Succoth. Then he went to Shechem when God had directed him to go to Bethel in Gen. 31:13. Jacob was showing incomplete obedience. He was living by the flesh and by faith. He was the new man, “Israel”; but he was still acted like the old man, Jacob. Partial obedience is disobedience.
The story ends with Jacob setting up an altar and naming God “El Elohe Israel”, the God of Israel. Jacob was not perfect, but had changed. God is the reason. He had to learn the hard way. He got a new name and purpose. God was at work in him before Jacob was born. He continued pursing Jacob and He is persistently pursing you. He wants you to change and have a life He has planned for you.
True Reconciliation:
If a broken relationship is to be repaired, trust must be built again. Both Jacob and Esau took bold steps to start trusting again.
There must be humility. Jacob showed humility by bowing down 7 times to Esau. True reconciliation requires a humble attitude by all involved.
There needs to be generosity. Be willing to genuinely give of yourself for the benefit of the one who was hurt. Jacob had stolen his brother’s birthright and blessing. As they reunited he offered a generous gift to Esau in the effort to reconcile.
There also needs to be forgiveness. Jacob wanted his brother’s forgiveness. Esau was willing to forgive and to reconcile. He ran to me Jacob and hugged and kissed him. They both wept.
There needs to be communication. Jacob and Esau talked more than they ever did before in the past. To rebuild a broken relationship there should be honest, respectful communication.
Jacob’s ongoing struggle to trust God is a realistic picture of the life of a Christian. Spiritual maturity is not immediate, but is a gradual progress. We will mess up from time to time, just like Jacob. If you are trying to grow spiritually but it seems like nothing is happening, don’t stop trying. We must stay the course and stay in God’s Word daily. God rewards those who seek Him and we must have faith to see the process through. We must wait for what will be revealed to us over time. It doesn’t happen automatically or instantaneously. “Continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our savior, Jesus Christ.” – 2 Peter 3:18.
Join me here next week for the next chapter in Genesis. -- I encourage you to trust in Jesus.
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