Galleries

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. Genesis 32:24

Jacob was about to meet Esau. He thought Esau would surely kill him.  He was alone the night before the confrontation and begged God for his life.  He reminded Him of his covenant blessings but wasn’t sure what God would do.  Of all nights, this was a night he needed sleep. Yet God came to him in the form of a man and wrestled with him all night until he was absolutely spent. He emerged from the fight just exhausted from the hand-to-hand wrestling match.

Though I have never wrestled with God in the flesh, I have known the deep weariness that comes from no sleep. It usually occurred the night before a spiritually significant event. I was anticipating a night of good sleep yet, in spite of all the preparation, I slept fitfully. I felt like I wrestled in prayer, that there was a battle being waged over me. I woke up exhausted and depleted.

Nights of angst are so unpleasant.  I do know this, however. God has drawn near to me when I’ve been drained and when the stakes were high.  Emptied of all self-effort, I did not strive with His Spirit at a time when what I said and did really mattered.

Perhaps you are facing one of the most important days of your life. Could be a court date, an interview for a new job, or a doctor’s appointment to strategize on future care. You haven’t slept well. You feel like you’ve been up all night and you can’t imagine how you will get through your day. Maybe you’re frustrated with God for your weakened condition.

Don’t back up from him. This is the time to run home.

Don’t battle with Him. You are too spent for that.

And perhaps that is the point. God longs for you to know that He is your strength and never is that more true than when you have none of your own.

You are large in our view when we are small. Do not let us despise frailty. Forgive us, Lord, for when we stand in the way of what You want to do through our weakness. Amen

Jacob instructed the first servant, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. For Jacob thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” Genesis 32:17-20

Have you ever wronged someone and then felt so guilty you couldn’t face them? You steered clear of them for a good long while.  Or perhaps you went in another direction and decided to sell your soul to win back their love.  

At this part in the Genesis story, Jacob was about to meet Esau. He avoided him for many years after cheating him out of his inheritance, but the Lord said it was time for Jacob to go home.  To do that meant going straight through Esau’s territory.  The time for hiding was over.  Jacob was afraid for his life.  So, he conceived the best possible plan to smooth things over with his brother. He sent three groups of servants ahead of him with expensive gifts.  They were also armed with heartwarming speeches. This, Jacob hoped, would soften the future moment when the two brothers laid eyes on each other. 

While this kind of posturing sometimes works in human relationships, it does not work with God.  All for nothing, we wear ourselves out trying to win God’s favor.  We believe that He is hard to please and downright unreasonable.  We are sure that we must come with gifts and perfect behavior to put Him in a better mood. We hope that we can make Him like us again.  (And, we are also in control of the reconciliation instead of resting in God’s righteous character.)

Because of Jesus, there is no need to appease God. Christ’s own blood appeased God forme. He did all the grueling work, brought the gift of His sacrifice on ahead of me so that all I had to do was come in His name. No games. No conditions. Only grace and favor.

You grieve when I take on hard labor and live like a slave.  All You want is a sincere apology accompanied by faith in Your love and forgiveness.  Amen

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” Genesis 32:6

If your brother wanted to kill you and you heard that he was on his way with 400 men, where would your mind go?  You’d probably envision something calamitous.  Jacob pictured doom as well, and he was filled with anxiety.

But wait! Not long before this, Laban had also been on the hunt for Jacob. He came at him with 400 men, but God delivered him. How short was Jacob’s memory?  Did he not think God could intervene again?

My memory can also be short when the same kind of trial visits me for the second time! Like Jacob, I experienced the thrill of God delivering me the first time around but when the threat is in front of my face again, I automatically run to despair.  Where is my faith? 

While it may be hard to voice it, I really believe that His generous spirit toward me has expired. Yes, He’ll do something wonderful once, but if I ask for it twice, He’ll be turned off.  I believe that God acts on the whims of good or bad moods.

Believing that God will write new chapters in my life requires me to stand amidst very powerful emotions. While it’s always easier to feed my fears and starve my faith, I choose differently.  I will feed my faith, knowing that fears will die.

Today, I will not doubt Your power, and even more important than that, I will not doubt Your love. Amen

And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant. Please deliver me from the hand of Esau, for I fear him. But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ” Genesis 32:9-12

I lived many days where prayers were casual. “Bless our family today and help us love and serve you more!” I even prayed this while driving, filing papers, or eating my morning yogurt.  But I learned in my twenties that there was another kind of prayer, the kind that Jacob prayed before Esau came to meet him with 400 armed men. We often fall to our knees when we’re fighting for our lives.

The door jam in our house that borders our guest room has been gripped and wet with tears on many, many occasions. Getting up in the night to pray, I laid my head against it, held on to the frame tightly, and pleaded with God to remember His covenant with me and my family. Utter desperation has been the backdrop of these prayers.  They are respectful prayers but not necessarily polite, with attempts to say things just right.  Desperate prayers spill out of desperation, and they are often incoherent.

It is not arrogant to come humbly before God and remind Him of His promises, to take hold of the hem of His garment and plead for your life. It’s the equivalent of a child saying to his father, “But you said!”  My relationship with Him is often one where I wrestle over my Canaan.  While praying, I’m usually trying to get to the bottom of my own angst and inaccurate perceptions of His character.

God is a Covenant Maker and does not make promises begrudgingly.

You delight in Your covenant relationship with me.  I am in awe.  Amen

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Genesis 32:3-4

After all these years, Jacob is about to meet Esau, the brother he cheated out of covenantal privileges. He is afraid for his life and rightly so. Afraid, he sent messengers on ahead to test the waters, to speak of him to Esau and see how he responded.

Have you ever feared meeting with a certain person? Tensions between you were high and over the years, there was little else you can think of when your soul was quiet. The strained relationship weighed heavily on you. To test the waters, you asked someone who was in good standing with them to speak of you. You asked them to reveal your present circumstances and explain how your heart had changed since they last saw you. Because you did this, you knew whether it was wise or unwise to restore the relationship.

A mediator is oftentimes needed. When judgments have been made, fairly or unfairly, softening the heart of the estranged is difficult. When God was misunderstood, He sent Jesus to show us His heart, personality, and character. Jesus softened our hearts and paid a great price to restore the breach in our relationship.

Jesus is still a mediator, not only between His Father and us, but between us and anyone else with whom we suffer a distance. When a foundation of prayer is laid, He goes ahead of us to work on a hardened heart. Nothing is too hard for our Mediator. He can give them a dream, speak to them in the night, cause them to remember a story about us that they had forgotten, or make sure they cross paths with someone who can speak about us in a way that makes them softer.

What can I pray if I am estranged from my brother, sister, parent, or friend? “Lord, would you give them your eyes for me? Would you bind their thinking to yours? Would you loosen the lies they believe and the revenge they seek? Till the soil of their heart so that they are approachable.”

Not only are the hearts of kings in God’s hands, but so is the heart of your nemesis.

You, Lord, are the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Amen

Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, and Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. Genesis 31:48-49

When God is left out of relationships, things can deteriorate rather quickly. This is true whether it involves relationships in families, in churches, or even in nations. Good covenants, the kind God makes with us, are beautiful treaties. They promise protection, provision, inner prosperity, and longevity. The knowledge that such a covenant can exists is a comfort to us. When life gets challenging, we want to know that there is someone to whom we can run.

Unfortunately, there is another kind of covenant. It is the kind Laban made with Jacob. Although they were extended family, there was hurt and distrust. Neither wanted to be vulnerable to the other. To ensure that there would be no malice, a covenant was made. Stones were assembled into pillars and oaths were taken. In essence, this was their agreement. “Even when you can’t see me, you don’t need to fear me. I will not harm you.” This is one of the first non-aggression pacts.

Politically, countries make treaties like this kind today. The two countries are really enemies but neither can afford the fallout of war. To self-protect, they draw up a non-aggression pact.

What is most tragic is when these unspoken pacts exist in a family. “You stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.” “Swear that you will never do that again and I’ll make it worth your while!”  Such words certainly break the heart of a God who sees His beautiful design of a family defaced. What is the cure for these self-protective, non-aggressive promises between people? The personal revival of both parties.

If I love God more than I love you, and you love God more than you love me, neither of us need to fear the other. We may or may not be close friends. That is beside the point. But just the knowledge that spiritual integrity exists erases the need to continually look over our shoulders.

Unholy standoffs are healed with prayer and humility, but it takes two.  May it be.  Amen

There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. Genesis 31:40-41

Jacob had had enough. He had labored under Laban’s patriarchal umbrella and suffered unfairly. He had been stolen from, lied to, and cheated out of earned wages. He had been tricked into taking a wife he never chose. On this day though, after being hunted down and accused of not acting justly, he rose to tell the truth of the story.

Making a ‘defense’ is one of those touchy subjects. If I defend myself in the heat of the moment, I can easily hear, “Well, aren’t you defensive!”  The other assumes my guilt instead of innocence. Somewhere in this equation, however, is turning the other cheek and suffering silently like Jesus did when he was ‘led like a lamb led to slaughter’. How can I know when it’s right for the truth to be spoken?

A defense given for the sake of truth is one thing and a defense given for the sake of wounded pride is another. Because there was no sin in Jesus’ heart, and because he rose to offer a defense, I might conclude that defending myself just might be a righteous act.  But how and why I make it is the real issue.

The fact that Jacob had waited so long to set the record straight is probably evidence that he had worked through his injustice with God. His rage was long gone. On the day of their final goodbye, it was only right for Laban to hear the lineup of past events from a righteous point of view.

Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and reveal all things to their hearts. That was their comfort, and it is also mine when the subtleties of navigating relationships leave me confused. When wronged, the Spirit of God will convict me of wounded pride even when the offense is real. When emotions are hot, He will nudge me to restrain my speech. When worked up, I can make no rational speech. “How dare you do this to me!” is too much on the tip of my tongue.

You have helped me, and are helping me, break the cycle of silence without acting out of anger.  Balance, Lord! I lean on You.  Amen

Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? Genesis 31:27

Jacob and his wives snuck away from Laban’s camp and headed back to Canaan. They did it while Laban and his sons were thirty miles away so that they could make a clean exit. Laban came home, discovered them gone, and pursued them. He was angry.  He accused Jacob of leaving secretly and then added to the narrative by telling him that he had missed a going away party to be given in his honor. Really? Laban had no intention of allowing Jacob to leave. Jacob had been Laban’s cash cow.

Did Jacob believe Laban’s argument? Probably not, but in many instances, it’s easy to be wooed with lies.  What happens when a less-than-true person tries to manipulate you? Do you give them the benefit of the doubt before applying spiritual discernment?

While it’s impossible to know for sure if someone is sincere, we shouldn’t trust just because someone claims to be trustworthy.  We must be savvy, considering the person’s behavioral patterns and track record. Most of the time, there will be a traceable history that proves sincerity or insincerity.

Today, maybe you are one who has run home to a marriage partner, putting yourself in an unsafe environment because you were charmed.  Maybe you made a poor choice for a business partner, or ministry team member, because of their charisma.  Others may have warned you that there was another side to them but because you didn’t see it personally, you went with your limited experience of them.  They were convincing, after all.

Jesus teaches us to be discerners of spirits, to be spiritually intuitive as we interact with people.  Like Adam, we are to rule our garden, being careful who has access to holy things. There are those like Laban among us; out to feed their appetites for greed, power, and control. No child of God should enable such behavior by trusting indiscriminately.  We’ve learned the hard way that, because the way of discipleship is a narrow way, few there be that walk on it.  Only the Spirit of God can point us in safe directions.

Make us spiritually street-smart and where mistakes have been made, show us how to navigate the places of difficult confinement.  Amen

When it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” Genesis 31:22-24

How does God protect us if we are His child? He nudges us to take a different route, buy a different house, and even make a different friend. He’ll send angels to stand guard to keep us from harm. What’s little known is how God directly warns our enemies to stay away from us. 

Is this an insurance policy to escape suffering?  Walking prudently does protect us but we are not spared pain 100% of the time. Jesus wasn’t always delivered from it. Like Him, we have enemies. But here’s the thing ~ God has a destiny for each of us, a purpose for which we were born, and He will take us safely through all He has ordained for us to do.  Though Jesus’ life was threatened on many occasions, his path to Calvary was protected. 

God came to Laban in his own Aramean tongue and told him what to say to Jacob. He came to a heathen King Abimelech to keep him from touching Sarah, Abraham’s wife. He also spoke to Balaam to prevent him from cursing the children of Israel. I can be comforted that spiritual enemies are on God’s leash.  That doesn’t mean I can abandon prayer and watchfulness. Earth is a battlefield and wounds are inflicted.  Like Jesus, I still pray for protection. (‘Deliver us from evil.’)  And, I also pray for the wisdom to know where to go and whom to trust. 

The safest child of God is an obedient one. I shouldn’t expect God’s protection if I’ve taken a self-willed detour. God made it clear from the beginning. ‘Obey me, and you’ll be blessed. Disobey me, and you’ll be led into captivity.’ 

It’s humbling to think about all the times you have restrained my enemies.   Amen

So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. Genesis 31:17,19

Jacob and his wives are about to leave for Canaan. Laban, his conniving father-in-law, is absent from the camp, away in distant fields. With no one watching, Rachel steals her father’s idols. Whoever possesses the family’s gods is considered the leader of the family.  This person also possesses the rights to the father’s inheritance. If Rachel were the oldest, that would be one thing. But Rachel had brothers! With Laban away and out of sight, Rachel really stole her brothers’ inheritance.

Isn’t it ironic that she is committing the same sin her husband committed. Jacob tricked his father into giving him Esau’s blessing and inheritance. Had Jacob told Rachel the story? I don’t know. But ‘like often produces like’ even in the invisible world. In families, grievous sins are passed down and re-committed even though the next generation often has no idea what their ancestors did. The predisposition is ‘in the blood.’

Just as new blood flow is needed to repair physical wounds, new blood flow is also needed to repair spiritual wounds. There is no human blood source that has the power to wash a bloodline clean.  Only one person’s blood can do that.  It’s Jesus’ blood and He freely offers it. He longs for us to apply the cleansing power of His sacrifice to our ancestral line. There need not be insidious generational influences looming over our families any longer. I need not stand by and watch the consequences of my family’s sin hurt my children and grandchildren. I can stop the unholy legacy from continuing by applying the blood of Christ to each generational pattern that holds my family captive. By doing this, Christ cancels out the effects that were caused by their sin.  What a gracious Savior!

Father, someone is coming to You in the name of Your Son, Jesus. They long to be free from the negative and invisible influences of family. Guide them, Holy Spirit, in spiritual housecleaning.  Teach them how to live as Your children rather than the obedient children of fallen flesh and blood. Amen