September 10, 2023
Reading: Genesis 32
Focus: Genesis 32:24-25 – 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
Father God, Thank You for this opportunity to look into Your Word. Help us to learn the lesson that You have for us today and take it to heart. In Jesus Name, Amen.
This is where we find Jacob. He is returning home to his father. He knows that Esau is probably still there and, for all he knows, Esau may still want to kill him. It’s been twenty years since he left in a panic, fleeing to Laban for sanctuary. What is Esau going to do when he sees Jacob? Jacob has 12 children, 11 sons and 1 daughter, 2 wives, huge flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, camels and donkeys and possibly hundreds of servants, shepherds and herdsmen. He can’t sneak back home. The huge mass of life that he is travelling with is impossible to hide. Jacob is shaking in his sandals. How can he protect his family and possessions?
After Laban left to return to his home, angels met Jacob on the way. It was not uncommon for angels of the Lord to appear and intervene in human situations. When he saw them, Jacob recognized them as who and what they were. He knew then that God was with him. I wonder if we don’t see angels all the time in our own lives and totally miss who they are. The person ahead of you in the check-out line pays for your groceries, totally out of the blue. The car in front of you at the drive-thru pays for your coffee. A friend calls up out of the blue to say they are praying for you. The person in the waiting room at the hospital asking to pray for your loved one in surgery. Angels show up all the time. Do we recognize them? Sometimes, and sometimes not. Then there are those angels that show up to help us and literally disappear when you turn to thank them. But Jacob, he recognized them.
Seeing the angels should have given Jacob some peace when he thought about meeting Esau again after what he had done twenty years before. But Jacob was “In great fear and distress . . . “ (Genesis 32:7). He had no idea what Esau would be like. Would he have held a grudge all these years? Jacob had cheated him out of both his birthright and his inheritance. Yes, Esau had some fault when he cared more for food than his birthright, but Jacob took advantage of the situation. To try to save some of his possessions, Jacob divided all he had into two groups. Hoping that if Esau would attack one group, the other one might stay safe.
Then, Jacob decided to pray. I say “then” because it was after he tried to do what he could to keep things safe rather than waiting on God to do it. Kind of giving God a little help, then asking Him to take care of things. How many times has that caused problems just in the book of Genesis alone? How many times do we do that? We see a huge problem in front of us and rather than taking it to God, we try to fix it and then ask God to bless it. I honestly have to say, I have done that too many times in my life. What about you?
Jacob asks God to save him. He reminds God that He told him to go back home and that God promised to make him prosper. Jacob admits that he is unworthy of God’s kindness and faithfulness. God had taken him from nothing to a very wealthy man. But now he’s scared. Afraid of Esau’s retribution. Then he reminds God again of His promises of innumerable descendants. Reading this, I am reminded of Abraham’s wondering if he would ever have the child God promised him. God promised that there would be no way to count their descendants and yet, both felt compelled to remind God of those promises when it looked as though that would never happen. Abraham waited until he was over 100 before the promise was fulfilled. Jacob is fearful that all of the blessings God had given him and the promise of descendants were about to be wiped out.
After he had slept, Jacob selected gifts for his brother in the hopes that he could pacify him. He did not choose little things either. He sent 220 goats, 220 sheep, thirty camels and their young, 50 head of cattle and 30 donkeys. These animals were the wealth of the owner. They were currency, food, clothing, milk, cheese, butter, work animals and transportation. Nothing went to waste. When an animal was slaughtered every part of it was used in some form or another. So, these gifts were gifts of great wealth. They would be impressive to any man in Jacob’s time. Jacob sent these animals in separate groups, along with his servants, to Esau with the message that they were gifts for him from his brother, Jacob, who was coming behind them. He was hoping to buy Esau’s forgiveness, I think. I have no idea why he was trying to buy Esau’s favor. Generally, that kind of backfires most of the time.
Later that night, Jacob sent his wives, his 2 maid servants and his children across the river. Once they were across, Jacob sent the rest of his possessions across the river. He stayed behind. The Bible doesn’t tell us when or where the “man” came from but it does tell us that Jacob wrestled with him all night. I wonder if Jacob knew, at first, that he was actually wrestling with God. Jacob’s wrestling match with God did not end until near daybreak. God touched Jacob’s hip socket so that it was wrenched as they wrestled. Jacob was not going to let go until God blessed him. God blessed him and changed his name to Israel. Scripture tells us that Jacob named the place Peniel, “face of God”. “It is because I saw the God face to face and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32: 30). Jacob limped for the rest of his days because Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
Jacob was given a new name, like several others in the Bible; Abraham, Sarah, Peter and Paul. The change of name was a symbol of the change that God had made in them. Here Jacob’s character changed. He was no longer the deceiver. He was Israel, the one who had struggle with God and people and had overcome.
How often are we like Jacob? We try to fix out problems and then remind God what He has done for us in the past and would He please fix this problem too now that we have had our fingers in the mess. We fear what may happen way before we get to where it could happen. We get anxious over something we have no control over. We worry when worry will not change one thing. The thing about worry is that we don’t need to do anything for it too work its way into our thoughts. There will always be a reason to worry. I have read that some think that worry is a sin. But is it?
I think yes and no. You can worry whether you took the trash out or turned the iron off. To me that is a concern and that is not sinful. But you can also worry over possible dangers around every corner, about relationships going badly, about what is going to happen if something in your life goes south. That’s when it gets a little dicey. When worry takes your trust off of God in all things, then, yes, it could be a sin. Worry will always be with us. Satan will always be trying to get you to take your eyes off of God. He tries to shake our faith in God.
The Bible says, ‘fear not’ and ‘do not be afraid’ a lot. I’ve read that it is in the Bible at least 365 times. That’s one for every day of the year. Sounds significant, doesn’t it? We are reminded daily not to worry, not to be afraid, not to be anxious. Easier said than done? Yep. But look at this. When you sit in a chair, you don’t worry, “It’s not going to hold me up.” Do you? No, you just sit, without thinking about it. That is faith, pure and simple. You come up against something that causes you to worry. Don’t think about it. Turn it over to God and let Him do the worrying. That is faith. Yes, I know sometimes that’s a very hard thing to do but it’s so worth it. And if you start to worry again, tell Satan to back off, God’s got this. Sometimes it seems like a constant struggle but hang on to God and He will bless you.
Are you hanging on?
Food for Thought
- Why do you think it is so hard to say, “I’m sorry.”?
- Why do you think God sent angels to Jacob?
- Why do you think that Jacob was so afraid after God had promised him numerous descendants?
- Do you ever try to fix a problem and then ask God to fix it? Why?
- Have you ever let worry take over your faith? What did you do about it.
