GODS COMPLETES WHAT HE BEGINS

 

 

                            

A patient was in the doctor’s office for his annual check up. As part of the exam the doctor looked in his eyes. Noticing how serious his astigmatism was, he said half jokingly to him “you are about blind, man. You better get your prescription for your glasses checked on to make sure it is up to date. So he made an appointment to see his ophthalmologist. The doctor had him sit in the chair, take off the glasses and read the chart at the end of the room.

If you have been to the doctor’s office and read the chart a few times you know you can squint and fake your way through at least part of the test. The doctor asked him “can you read the top letter? Yes he said “it is an A. Can you read the next row down? Yes it says CZY. Can you read the next row? Yes I think it reads KNSCV. Finally the doctor said “OK you can put your glasses on”. How did I do doc” the patient asked. “Pretty good except for the fact that this chart contains numbers, not letters” the doctor answered.

After twenty years in exile God commanded Jacob to return to Canaan.  He encountered angels at the borders of the Promised Land (Gen 32:1).  Jacob found out that where he camped there was another camp of angels, so he named the place Mahanaim (Two Camps).  These angels had been with him the entire time; God made them visible to him at this moment to give him the much needed encouragement. Years later Elisha and his servant were surrounded by enemies, his servant panicked. Elisha prayed “open his eyes, Lord so that he may see.” The servant saw hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:15-17).  Invisible angels watch over each of God’s children even though they may never see them.

Jacob’s deepest fear was how to face his brother Esau who had planned to kill him. He sent messengers to Esau with a carefully worded message to let him know that he was now wealthy and he was not coming to take anything from Esau (32:3-5).  He nervously waited for his messengers to return. His mother had promised to send for him when Esau’s anger turned away (27:45).  She never did, therefore he had a reason to believe that Esau was still angry. The messengers returned and said, “your brother Esau is coming to meet you and four hundred men are with him” (32:6). Jacob froze with fear!

He knew that if God did not come through, he was a dead man. He had angels there to protect him, but he needed more than angels to shore up his sagging faith.  So he made an urgently prayer to God for protection (32: 9-12). This is the first reference to Jacob praying since Bethel. In his fear he took a review of his life. He remembered the day God promised to watch over him wherever he went and to safely bring him back to this land” (28: 15).

Possibly he remembered his own vow “if God will watch over me on this journey and will give me food and cloths so that I return safely to my father’s house then the Lord will be my God (28: 20, 21).  As he stood there that day, the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20) had kept his promise in an amazingly way.  He had not only protected Jacob, but he had also given him a family and a lot of wealth. Jacob said “I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan but now I have become two groups” (32: 10).

Jacob’s prayer was powerful (32:9-12).  He approached God as his father’s covenant keeping God (vv.9, 12). God delights to have us take His Word and pray it back to Him, claiming the promises He has made to us. Jacob appealed to God on the basis of grace, not merit. He admitted his own unworthiness and thanked God for all His past mercies and blessings (v. 10). He presented his request honestly and fervently (v.11).  He argued his case based on the revealed purpose of God (v.12).

The great preacher Spurgeon said “it will go hard with any man who fights against a man of prayer. When God gave the promise he put himself in the power of those who know how to plead the promise.” No matter how great our prayer is, our faith would be seen in what we do after prayer.  Jacob’s faith was mixed with fear and his plans are more tied to his fear than to his faith. As soon as Jacob finished praying he took up his strategies.

He divided his family, putting the less loved maidservants and their children, Leah and her children, in the front so that if they are massacred the favorite (Rachel and Joseph) could possibly escape. Little did he know that, the Rachel he so protected, would die before Leah. He cowered in the rear. Then he sent wave upon wave of gifts to Esau, he hoped “perhaps he will accept me” but perhaps not. How many times have you prayed and soon after started working on alternative course of action just in case prayers does not work. Possibly this is the reason many prayers go unanswered.

 He was alone when suddenly, out of the dark, a hand grabbed him. Instinctively, Jacob began to wrestle with this mysterious assailant. We are not told that the assailant could not overcome Jacob, only that he did not. Obviously, God could have crippled Jacob in the first minute of this contest. When He finally wanted to, He just touched Jacob’s hip, making him helpless immediately. 

Jacob probably thought that the fight was evenly matched. But in one light touch, the Lord crippled him making it clear how powerful he was. Then Jacob learnt that obedience is not an option; it was his only reasonable course of action. In Acts 26:14 the risen Jesus spoke to Saul from heaven and said ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” A goad is a long rod with a sharp end that is used to prick an animal to move. Fighting against God’s will only hurt you.

When the Lord told Jacob, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking,” Jacob clung to Him and said “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (32:26). Jacob acknowledged God as the source of all blessings before he re-entered the Promised Land. He also realized that God’s blessings make rich and add no sorrow (Prov. 10:22). The Lord could have got away from Jacob’s grip. But he loves it when His children cling to Him in their brokenness and say, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”

God changed his name from Jacob to Israel because “you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed” (32:27-28). Jacob was a wrestler, Hosea 12:3-5 says this about him “In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God.  He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there, the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is his name!” David said “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart of Lord you will not despise (Ps.51:16-17)

Finally he met his brother; Jacob went to Esau bowing seven times (33:3), a greeting normally reserved for kings. Esau run to meet him, embraced him, kissed him and wept. He called Jacob, “my brother” (33:4). Then Esau said “What do you mean by all those droves I met? (33:8). Jacob had wasted his time with his elaborate scheme. His fears proved unfounded, God had been at work on Esau’s heart and he no longer held a grudge against Jacob. The went amazingly well.

Jacob was welcomed with open arms; but he resisted Esau’s kind offer to accompany him. He urged his brother to go on ahead, assuring him that he would catch up. And with this, Esau rode off to his home in Seir.  From what followed, it seems like Jacob lied to Esau when he promised to come to him soon (33:14).  Jacob traveled to Succoth and settled there. Then he traveled to Shechem, purchased a field, set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel “The God of Israel is God” (33:18-20). Israel at this point is not a nation yet, Israel is his new name.

 It seems as though Jacob intended to stay there indefinitely had it not been for a very ugly incident at Shechem. Leah’s daughter, Dinah, was raped by Shechem the mayor’s son.  Shechem was very attracted to Dinah and wanted to marry her. Jacob was willing to do so, but if his family had remained in Shechem, intermarrying with the Canaanites, the nation Israel would have been absorbed by the Canaanites (34:20-24).

Dinah’s brothers were deeply incensed by Shechem’ s crime and they were not about to let him get away with it. They made a deal that for the Jacob’s family to intermarry with citizens of Shechem, all the men of Shechem must be circumcised. On the third day when the wounds were sore and painful Simeon and Levi slaughtered all the men. They started with the mayor and his son Shechem. Nobody thwarts the plan of the Almighty (Job 42:1).

Jacob was very annoyed with his sons, if he had intended to live near Shechem, this was no longer possible. They must flee from that place for fear of revenge. God once again spoke to Jacob, telling him to leave “Go up at once to Bethel and live there (35:1). And so Jacob and his family quickly departed for Bethel. Once again, Jacob was driven by a crisis rather than by principle.

 After more than twenty years, Jacob finally returned to Bethel, the place where God had first appeared to him and he built an altar there. Once again God appeared to him, reaffirming His covenant “I am the Sovereign God. A nation will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants! The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you”. One of the kings who descended from Jacob is David.

We are not told how the reunion with Isaac went, but only that Jacob and Esau jointly buried him after his death at the ripe old age of 180 (35:28-29).  Isaac had miscalculated the time of his death. He was about 100 years old when he thought he was dying and blessed Jacob. Nothing is said about Rebekah so we presume she was already dead by the time Jacob returned.