| Subject: Genesis 32 vss 8-12 Post 162 |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 19:16:28 10/13/11 Thu
Genesis 32:8-12 And (Jacob) said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. 9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. 11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. 12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Jacob has divided his family into two groups. One group is made up of Leah, her children, the children of her handmaid and what servants Jacob alloted to her. The second group is Rachel, her son Joseph and her handmaid with her children and those servants Jacob had alloted to her. They are camped by the stream Jabbok which is on the east side of Jordan about half way between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The brook empties into the Jordan not far from their camp.
Jacob's fear has been building ever since his servants returned with news of Esau's coming with 400 men. Jacob's fear causes him to seek out God for protection. We should remember in the last passage we looked into that a some angels met him. We are not told how many but there were several since Jacob called them "God's host" in verse 2 and called the place where they met him "Mahanaim" which means "two camps". The angels evidently camped close to Jacob's camp and gave him comfort. That comfort was soon dispelled as Jacob now was left without being able to see them after he broke camp and move on. With no angels and Esau getting closer Jacob becomes desperate. His cry is the cry of multitudes down through history and the first two words out of his mouth are "Oh God"!. It is a cry of repentance based on desperation and great fear. Here I will paraphrase a little. "Oh God of my father and grandfather You told me to return to my country and kindred and you would be with me. You told me! I have obeyed you and look at what is happening. Oh God I can't go back and I can't go forward. Esau is coming and I greatly fear him. God if you don't help me Esau and his men are going to smite me my wives and my children. God you just got to help me. Oh God I know I am the least of the least and don't deserve your help but God you just got to help me. You promised!!!. You said you would do good for me and bless me and make as the sand of the sea which cannot be counted and God You just can't break your promise."
Have you every prayed a similar prayer? Have you ever quoted verses of scripture to God? Maybe you quoted to Him; "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). How about "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. " (John 14:14). Have you ever thrown that back at God? How about this one? "Ask and it shall be given." (Matt. 7:7)
Probably every one of us have reminded God of His Word when we have reached points of desperation. We will do every thing in our power to convince God to do our bidding and many times God just reminds us of all the times we failed to do His bidding. How many times have we said no to God yet we insist He say yes to us. We go merrily down the road forgetting the goodness of God until we "have a flat" and then we try to pull God out as a spare tire.
Jacob had lived his life selfishly and deceptively and God was making him sweat. Sometimes a little sweating is good for us. It cleanses our system of poisons that have built up. Jacob is in the process of "sweating out the poison" of his failures as he tries to do a little "arm twisting" on God.
God truly had promised Jacob deliverance and blessings. Jacob had so strayed from God's will for him that he knew he did not deserve to have God's promises to him fulfilled. He knew in his heart that he did not deserve God's grace but God was a lot bigger than Jacob's weakness. God had promised and He has never nor will he ever break a promise given to us. God's promise to Jacob was anchored in His promise to Abraham. Jacob had inherited the blessings that were first given to Abraham and all that God promised to Abraham was to come to pass regardless of how rotten Abraham's descendants became.
In like fashion God has promised certain things to Jesus His only begotten son. These promises to Jesus cannot be negated by those who are born again yet don't live up to God's desires for a perfect walk as a Christian. As children of God we may be like the prodigal son of Luke 15 but just as the prodigal never quit being a son because of the blood in his veins we can never undo the blood of Jesus that has been applied to every Christian that has been born from above. We are now made one with Christ and one in Christ and as such we are also made one in God the Father. (1 Cor 8:6, Gal. 3:28, John 17:21) To deny us the promise would deny the promise to Jesus just as to deny the promise to Jacob who became Israel would deny the promise to Abraham and it ain't going to happen.
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