What did you think of this interaction between Jacob and Esau?
To me it sure sounded like Esau had moved on for his murderous desires. Yet Jacob was cautious. How much fear and tension there must have been in this moment for him! It was sad reading about how he divided up his wives and children in order to protect them – and once again in his actions he shows his favoritism. How painful that must have been for the women and children – some of whom where old enough to understand.
How strangely Jacob’s new name is lived out in this chapter. God re-named Jacob to call him “One who wrestles with God.” Jacob is clearly wrestling with fears, and he is using his wits to protect himself and his family. He is so doubt-filled and untrusting. Yet he is Israel, one of the fathers of our faith. He built an altar near Shechem and named it “God the God of Israel.” His displays of fear and faith show that he really did wrestle with God. It was no easy thing for him to trust God.
How interesting it is, then, that today we try to make faith sound so easy. “All you have to do is believe!” “Just trust God to take care of you.” “Put it all in the Lord’s hands.” As if once we believe in Jesus everything will be okay and we’ll never have a fear or doubt again in our lives.
Jacob is a good example for us to see how God can work in the life of a broken person and bring about blessings, hope, and salvation. He is no super-saint. He is constantly working the angles and hedging his bets. Yet in His grace God chose him, blessed him, and used him to be the father the nation of Israel would be named after.
We all wrestle with God, just as we all wrestle with our doubts. We are great mixed bags of fears and faith. Sometimes we succumb to our fears. Other times we rise up on wings of faith. However, let there be no doubt about this: God is always faithful. He always guides. He always works in and through our lives to draw us near to him and to draw others to him has well. He is constantly gathering people to Christ, building us in Christ and helping us to serve Him as Christ.
How can we be sure?
Look to the cross.
Jesus lived perfectly and faithfully. Even when he wrestled with God the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane his ending point was obedience. He journeyed to the cross. He went ahead of the family and sacrificed his life for the sake of all of us children and little ones who followed after him.
But even in death he did not stop leading. He leads us through mankind’s greatest fear: death. He guides us through the valley of the shadow of death, and sees us safely to our Promised Land; our home in heaven.
Lord Jesus, thank you for facing my enemies and the dangers of this world to lead me back to my Father in Heaven. Help me when I fear to come back to faith. Use me like you did Jacob. In Your name. Amen.
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