Outline:
I. The Problem at Hand (Genesis 32:3-8)
a. Problems get closer and larger (v. 6)
b. Panic sets in (v. 7-8)
II. The Prayer for Help (Genesis 32:9-12)
a. Remember God’s direction (v. 9)
b. Humility displayed (v. 10)
c. Fear’s cries (v. 11)
d. Promise claimed (v. 12)
III. The Preparation for Harmony (Genesis 32:13-23)
a. A Willingness to give up “things” (v. 13-20)
b. Action to back up intentions (v. 21-23)
IV. The Persistence in Hope (Genesis 32:24-32)
a. A struggle for hope (v. 24-25)
b. Never giving up until victorious (v. 26-29)
c. Joy despite scars (v. 30-32)
V. The Provision of the Holy One (Genesis 33:1-20)
a. The welcome (v. 1-4)
b. The effect on the family (v. 5-7)
c. A giving attitude in the face of blessing (v. 8-11)
d. The leading of the Holy One (v. 12-20)
Body:
God still answers prayers! The people of God ought to know His power through the many blessings that we have experienced because of prayer. Many years ago, a man once proclaimed that prayer doesn’t change anything except the state of mind of the person praying. In a world and in a nation where people pride themselves on their own self-will, the church is slowly moving away from prayer and its power to change things. Many pulpits and teacher’s lecterns have become a haven for this kind of thinking. “You can do it yourself!” “It’s entirely up to you to determine your fate.” These quotes are killing faith in what God can do if we simply call upon His name. God still hears and answers prayer. The answer may not be in a fashion that we so desire, but in the long term (a phrase that frightens Christians because of unsurety), we benefit more because of His answers. Romans 8:28 reminds the Christian that “…God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” As Christians we are all called according to His purpose. In other words, God will handle it all for our benefit.
In Genesis 32, we find an interesting story of a very blessed Jacob who has found out that his twin brother, Esau, is coming to meet him. Normally, a family gathering is not such a bad ordeal, but we must remember the Jacob and Esau saga. Esau was the oldest and a hard worker. Jacob was a “mama’s boy.” Jacob and found more favor in his mother’s sight, and she worked with him to trick his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing that Esau rightly deserved. Esau was infuriated with Jacob for stealing what was rightfully his. To add further insult, one day Esau had worked himself very hungry and begged Jacob for food. Jacob bargained with Esau in a time of Esau’s weakness and managed to convince Esau to give up his birthright for the food. To sum things up, Esau had plenty to be fuming about.
Thankfully, we can say that Jacob matured in his righteousness, and God had blessed him through many struggles—in particular the deception of his father-in-law. Now Jacob is journeying onward, and God is preparing yet more blessings on his life. As he is journeying, he is faced with the news that his brother is coming to meet him. Since they didn’t exactly part on great terms, Jacob is fearful of his brother’s wrath. Esau was now a prince (God still blessed him.) and was coming with four hundred men to deal with Jacob, roughly or gently. Now Jacob is faced with a decision—use his own wisdom and face possible death or seek God’s answer.
The interesting note that is overlooked is found in verses one and two. Jacob is now faced with a great trial, and great fear has come upon him. He is so distraught that he is assembling a peace offering for his brother hoping that Esau will not kill him. However, in verses one and two, we find that as Jacob journeyed, he meets the angels of the Lord and rejoices to see their presence. He rejoices in it so much that he even gives the place a name that means “two camps” or “two companies”—God’s camp coinciding with Jacob’s camp. (Just as a note for all Christians, our camp ought to be the same as God’s camp.) The angels were there to comfort him and to remind him of God’s presence and protection before a great trial. God is always present no matter what the struggle or trial may be! Too often we forget that great truth. Dr. Johnny Hunt once said, “The way you confront great trial is with great Truth.” (“The Difference Your Service Makes”) The truth is that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent! Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). He will supply all your NEED according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
I. The Problem at Hand
Now a dilemma has emerged. A problem has come about, and you are in dire need of help. The bigger issue is that you cannot find the peace needed to overcome the problem. Jacob had reached this same point in his trial. He had reached the point that was facing a much larger problem than He expected. Esau has a company of four hundred men coming to meet Jacob. Certainly Jacob would be destroyed. Because of the news of Esau’s approaching, Jacob begins to panic. Jacob strategizes a plan for a possible attack. He divides his company into two divisions. If one gets attacked, then the other company can flee to safety while the attack is going on. In churches today, imposing trials will come and cause panic to set in the church. The panic begins to cause strife, and suddenly the church is divided. While those who seek the Lord and His will are under attack, the disgruntled members will flee to “their happy place.” Often times, we lose sight of God and His power when we are dealing with our trials. At those points, we must make a decision.
Jacob had two choices. His first option would be to forsake prayer and follow his own guidance. His second option is to keep praying. Today, we all have different trials and fears. What do we choose to do? Do we forsake prayer? Do we seek the world’s counsel instead of our own? Let’s see what happens when we pray until God blesses us.
II. The Prayer for Help
Jacob is broken to the point that he begins to pray. In his opening statement in verse 9, he acknowledges God’s direction given to him earlier in his life. By understanding that God’s direction is what brings us to where we currently are in a righteous walk, we are assured that God is working out an amazing growth opportunity for our lives. If we stand on the promises given throughout the Word of God, we know that in our darkest times, we can depend on him. Throughout my own life, I have found God’s presence to be more real to me when I follow His direction through a turbulent trial. God is not the incompetent we treat Him to be when we get discouraged. Many struggling in trials don’t feel that they treat God in such a way, but we ought to be reminded of how we pray to him. Prayers such as, “God, I can’t see where this is taking me! Why me?! Why should I have to struggle?!” display our lack of trust in God’s Word. He promised us that He would always be with us (Matthew 28:20). He promised that we would never have to carry more than we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). God’s way always leads to blessing in the end. Our prayers might not seem to have any effect now, but we must keep laboring in prayers. I have always been taught that you have to work hard to experience the goodness of life. In our Christian walk, that holds true as well. God is willing to bless us, but we must do our part. God will work the opportunity in our lives, but we must take advantage of it. We must realize that God’s direction is always the right way to travel.
The characteristic needed to get through spiritual trial is humility. Understanding our weakness of mind will take us from a depressed, discouraged state due to our failure to one of joy and gladness in God’s victory. Jacob confesses his unworthiness to God in verse ten. He sees that he does not deserve the blessings of God. When we truly open our eyes to how undeserving we are of God’s salvation and blessings, we can find ourselves thankful to be where we are in the midst of trial. First Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that we ought to be thankful in everything because it’s God’s will for us. Jacob’s heart resounds this same thought in verse ten. If we look closely, we can almost hear repentence for following his own will when he says, “…for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.” If the churches and individuals would only humble themselves in the midst of trial (as well as always) and see their divisions and self-proclaimed righteousness as failure, then a great revival could break out all across this world. Second Chronicles 7:14 says, “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” We cannot pray with pride in our hearts and expect God to move. Jesus placed the emphasis on the prayer of the publican over the prayer of the Pharisee when He tells how the publican went home justified (Luke 18:9-14). We must come to him in humility.
Humility must sometimes be achieved through fear. Verse 11 tells us that Jacob was afraid of what Esau might do to his family. Fear will drive us to pray. I have heard literal war stories of soldiers who would curse God and swear that there was no God, yet when they were in the midst of the battle fearing for their lives, they would pray to God Almighty to save them. Some Christians have also waited to pray to God when they needed him for something. Most often we as Christians pray to God out of fear. Jesus began telling a parable of a woman who kept coming to a judge to be redeemed of a wrong she had received. Daily she would come and plead with the judge for justice. Finally, the judge granted what she had requested. The lesson of the parable is simply that we ought always to pray and never faint (Luke 18:1-8). Since the Christians struggle with that concept, God will allow trials in our lives to create a fear that will lead us to Him. Sometimes we may start the trial well by praying to the Lord, but we lose heart. Once we lose heart, we begin to trust in our own wisdom, and we neglect prayer. A simple note for the heart: A prayerless life is a dead life. God will have to remind us through fear that we still need him.
Once we have experienced great fear (whether it be for cancer, bankruptcy, unemployment, or loss of loved ones), God reminds us of his promises. In verse 12, Jacob recalls God’s promise made through Abraham in years past. The Bible contains thousands of promises that the Lord made to those who have Christ in their hearts. God never promised that the loads would not get heavy or that the trials would not get hard. Nevertheless, He promised that He would always be there (as aforementioned). God never leaves us. We leave God, yet we are always bound by the tie of His love. When we pray, we ought to remember those things that God has promised us through His Word. If we remember God’s promises, we are less likely to complain about the trials that befall us. In the midst of hard times, we must remember Jesus will still be there.
III. The Preparation for Harmony
When we finally grasp God’s generosity toward us, we begin to do a spiritual house cleaning. Verses 13 through 23 paint a grand picture of how a trial can cause us to seek harmony with God. Jacob has prayed and sought God’s help in his issue with his brother, Esau. In order to please Esau, he begins to prepare a gift for him. Jacob becomes willing to give up his possessions in order to find peace with his brother. Verse 16 gives the impression of what will be separating Jacob from Esau—his prized possessions. As Christians, we must find harmony with Christ. We must find a willingness to give up what is necessary to please the Lord. Commitment is needed to bring us into harmonious fellowship with Jesus Christ. As a pastor, I hear all kinds of commitments in the altar during an invitation. I have for years (even before pastoring) heard those who try to bargain with God in order to get through a trial. Many will offer to give up something in return for relief. “I will tithe.” “I will pray more and read my Bible more.” “I will give my life to Your service, Lord.” “I will give up this secret sin of mine.” Unfortunately, many of those commitments are never carried out. We have good intentions, but rarely good actions.
Jacob’s intentions were great! He was willing to offer anything to bring peace between Esau and himself. However, without the commitment to the offering, the possibility of peace was severely lessened. Actions speak louder than words. As Bible-believing Christians, we must act on our prayerful commitments to God. We always need to be checking ourselves for our level of commitment. If we plan to have God move in our lives, we have to do more than just talk about what we are going to do. The selfish nature that we possess keeps us from experiencing God’s greatest blessings. In times of distress, we need commitment. I have found myself fighting the battle every day. Jesus left His disciples to pray in the garden before His betrayal, and He came back and found them sleeping. His words to them were, “…the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Jacob had become so committed that he even separated himself from his family (verse 21-23). Would we be willing to separate ourselves from our family for the sake of God’s work in our lives? The answer is too often, “No.” We may say that we would, but we find ourselves clinging to the earthly treasures we have. When praying to the Lord, we have to be willing to give Him anything. Jacob was willing to offer his treasures to the prince, Esau. We should be willing to offer our treasures to the Prince of Peace.
IV. The Persistence in Hope
Impossible are the chances of hope thriving in the midst of problems. That’s what the prince of darkness, Satan, wants you to believe. We find ourselves so overwhelmed by the battle that we lose hope. I have seen many who have battled disease or ministry challenges, and I have seen their struggle become so difficult that they just despair of life (2 Corinthians 1:8). “What’s the point?!” “Why me?!” These are questions by a hopeless attitude. Verses 24 and 25 tell of how Jacob was involved in a wrestling match in the middle of the night. As Christians trying to live close to God, we find ourselves lying awake at night wrestling with an overpowering issue. We wrestle with confusion. I can imagine that Jacob had probably been awakened to a great deal of confusion. Churches and individuals should always remember that Satan is the “Author of Confusion.” If he can keep us confused and out of sync with God, then he can keep us ineffective for God. When trials come, our hearts question our status with God’s will. In those times of question, we encounter pain. Verse 25 illustrates Jacob becoming injured in the skirmish. We suffer injuries to our pride, our relationships, and even to our character (if we lose the battle with sin) during times of spiritual fights. A motto for my high school football team was “no pain, no gain.” We cannot expect spiritual growth without spiritual growing pains.
What grows success in an individual’s life is a resiliency to get up from being knocked down. Jacob loses a battle with the angel when he becomes injured in the brawl, but he doesn’t give up. By recognizing the opportunity he had, he clung to the angel until he received a blessing (verses 26-29). In the process of God’s blessing, he receives a name change—“Israel” which means “one who strives with God.” When we pray, we ought to keep clinging to the old, rugged cross where we find favor in God’s sight. Prayer is a great struggle for the warrior for God. Satan knows the power of prayer, and if he can’t diminish your work for God, he will attempt to diminish your belief in prayer. In those times, we must cling to Christ more closely in order to avoid falling into the trap of prayerlessness. An acrostic was developed some years ago that said P. U. S. H.—Pray Until Something Happens. That’s what will save our world, our country, our states, our schools, our churches, and our homes. Pray Until Something Happens.
Despite deliverance and success, we still have scars from battles in our lives. When Jacob returned to his camp (notice he didn’t leave until he had been blessed), he returned with a noticeable limp (verses 30-32) from the night’s activities (most wives would question their husband’s sobriety in this day and time). He had been victorious but still had the marks of the battle. Still, he had found joy from his time with the angel. Could it be possible that the angel was actually Christ? From what the Bible tells us, we find that the individual wrestling with Jacob is simply called “a man” in verse twenty-four. By the anonymity that the man chooses to maintain and Jacob’s declaration in verse 30, a case could be made that he had encountered Christ. With that thought in mind, every encounter we have with Christ can leave us walking away with joy. The pain and scars are symbols of His molding in our lives. The Lord will break us and humble us as was mentioned earlier. When we enter a worship service, we should leave with joy in our hearts that Christ had visited with us. When we study the Bible, we should get up inspired because our hearts and minds heard His voice. When we pray, we should get up with fresh faith because He has filled our hearts. We can’t always do those things because of conviction found in all three of those activities. One reason that people can’t find joy while praying during their trial is because God is calling us to forsake some things that we have hindering our relationship with Him. It hurts to know that we have to go through hell to get hell out of us.
V. The Provision of the Holy One
Trials can serve one of two of the following purposes: God will use it to draw us closer to Him, or Satan will use it to make us bitter. Thank God for His power in trials! His power draws us to pray continuously during hard times. We find an opportunity to pray until we see God’s hand at work. Jacob didn’t give up until God blessed him. In our lives, we keep fervent in prayer and see God bless us tremendously. God’s blessing becomes evident in the welcome Esau gave to Jacob (Genesis 33:4). When we strive to pray, God handles our issues.
Very often we seek to have our families following a Christian example through means such as study books, conferences, help groups, etc., but the greatest example is found in us. Jacob humbles himself before his brother in Genesis 33:3, and his family follows suit in verses five through seven. Our loved ones keep a magnifying glass on us during trials. They want to see if we will be faithful to prayer and to the work of the Lord. They watch our worship of the Lord during hard times. Do we complain during trials? Do we continue to pray with a thankful heart? If we ask God to make an impact in our families, we must be willing to remain faithful to prayer especially in difficult times.
When God begins to bless, we either try to give more back to him or we try to hoard up the blessings and use them for our own benefit. Jacob has been blessed with peace between Esau and himself. He and his family have been spared trouble with Esau. Esau, like God (see verse 10), was willing to bless Jacob with more than just a peaceful relationship. Yet, Jacob was still willing to give and give and give. Congregations of the twenty-first century detest preaching that deals with giving. The fastest way to stir up emotions is to talk about money. For the crowd that complains about that teaching, remembrance must be made to 1 Timothy 6:10 which says, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Life is more than being consumed by the power of money. Life is also about more than being consumed by things, physical or ideal. When the Lord blesses people of the church today, most aren’t willing to give more in honor of Jesus. Most of us feel that we must use our blessings to fulfill our fleshly desires instead of multiplying the kingdom of God. When God blesses our prayers, we must be willing to give back more than before to God. The old song, “Trust, Try, and Prove Me,” compels us, as the Bible does, to bring our “money, talents, time, and love. Consecrate them all upon the altar while the Savior from above says sweetly, ‘Trust Me. Try Me. Prove Me.’” Dr. Johnny Hunt always shares at the Real Evangelism Conferences I attend each year, “We are never more like Jesus than when we are giving.”
Now that Jacob has been delivered from his trial, he feels a great burden lifted from his soul. Esau invites him to come join him in Seir (home of Esau’s tribe, the Edomites), but Jacob cannot because of mandate given in Genesis 31:3 by the Lord commanding him to return to his ancestors’ land. Jacob sends Esau ahead and requests to be allowed to move at a different pace. As Christians, we ought to find ourselves wanting to move in God’s direction at His pace. We are prone to want to wander where we know the good times are happening. This is evident in all of the “church-hopping” we find in America today. If you get mad, bored, or hurt, you can just find another church down the road where “the fun is.” The diagnosis of the church’s problem is heartbreaking. We have forgotten that we must face challenging times as individuals and as people of God. As soon as we forget, we began to want to go where the good times are. I have been to several Bible conferences since I have been preaching, and many times, I enjoy myself so much there that I don’t want to go back to my own church because of the struggle that awaits. I always have to be reminded that God has a direction and a pace for my life and my ministry. I can’t try to overrun or underrun Him, nor can I travel a different direction just because I don’t like the way things seem on His chosen path. A good notation for our hearts would be that just because the situation isn’t very positive right now, it doesn’t always mean that God doesn’t want us there. Consider the opportunity! It is an opportunity to pray…to pray until God blesses!
