When Jacob was faced with what could well be a ‘life and death’ situation he was all for praising the Lord for all his years of “kindness and faithfulness,” Genesis 32:10. That was Jacob’s starting point. And not surprising too, because the brother he’d deeply offended twenty years ago was fast approaching with four hundred men, possibly armed and out for blood.
And Jacob’s ‘troops’ were meager by comparison. All he had were a few messengers (3), plus his two wives and their children and their two maidservants (33:1). Not exactly a great fighting force. So with the odds heavily stacked against him, Jacob did the obvious: he looked back into his past and all the impossible things God had got him through, and prayed that God would do the same again.
But he also made plans of his own by “dividing the people who were with him into two groups,” so if Esau attacked one group, the other group could escape (7-8). Jacob’s approach to this impossible situation, then, was to start off with “Praise the Lord” for all the help he’d always given, but he included the “pass the ammunition” bit too, by doing what was in his own power for self-defence as well, in case things turned nasty.
To Jacob, then, there was no problem taking steps of his own as well. Trusting God didn’t mean just sit back, put brain to sleep, and let God work everything out. He took the approach that God would want him to do what he could, so put brain to work and God would guide.
It was all a bit humbling for Jacob, though, being faced with a situation that the best workings of his agile brain and cleverness – that had served him so well in the past – couldn’t resolve. And to his credit he accepted that. So he prayed, “Lord, help me.” But believing that the Lord would help him freed his mind from fear and panic to think about what he could do in partnership with God. What ‘ammunition’ of his own could he provide for God’s use as well?
So he wasn’t thinking “I deserved this mess,” and off he shuffled to whimper under a cactus. Trust had given Jacob energy and ideas. It had also made him fearless, so when he spied Esau “coming with his four hundred men” (33:1), he boldly went out to meet him, leaving himself wide open to whatever Esau decided to do (3). So that’s what trust can do – updated for us very nicely by Paul too in Romans 8:28. Which helps when “Reconciling with the likes of Laban”….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 