Jan 23: [Gen 32-34] Encounters with God should not only change us but be reflected in our lifestyle but “old ways die hard” and so it is seen in our reading today. The unequal yoke of Jacob and Laban has been severed and the journey back to Canaan has resumed. As we journey with Jacob we note something significant. God spoke to Jacob back in Paddam-Aram and now comes directly to Jacob. Why does God do that? Because Jacob has the greatest need in his life of forgiveness. In hearing of the advancing arrival of Esau Jacob, full of fear, reaches out to God and in turn God responds. Notice the parts of Jacob’s prayer:
1. Adoration: “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac,
2. Confession: I am not worthy of all the faithful love you have shown your servant.
3. Thanksgiving: With only my walking stick I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
4. Supplication: Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children.
5. Reminding God of our step of obedience and Claiming of His promises: you said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives - I am doing this .’ And you said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count—I am claiming this!
In God’s response we see two things; 1. it is God that comes to Jacob, 2. God wrestles with Jacob. It is not until God struck the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated that Jacob yielded to God and sought His blessing.
Why is this recorded for us? Our greatest need is to meet God and to recognize our need of His forgiveness. God could have responded by just blessing Jacob but instead He provided a reminder of this encounter lest Jacob forget. It was not until Jacob relented that God reminded him: “you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed.” In this Jacob was then set free of the unequal yoke of he and Laban, freed to complete his journey back to Canaan and freed to lead his family in the ways of the Lord. That is the gift God gives to us when we prevail and God forgives and releases us of the past.
There is a now a new responsibility given to Jacob: to lead his family in the ways of the Lord, but old ways die hard. Look at the next chapters and see a man who has the spirit of fear, (I am afraid of Esau) a man of weak faith, (Jacob divides his family and sends gifts to appease Esau) a man who still deceives (tells Esau that he will meet him in Seir but instead goes to Shechem) and a father who does not lead righteously, (daughter Dinah is not supervised, is captured and raped---but Jacob waits on his sons rather than being Dinah’s protector.) Thus in this account we see “like father like son” in that they too deceive the men of Shechem and later murder and pillage. At the end we see Jacob lamenting his loss of prestige instead http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifof seeing how his sons are a picture of his failed leadership.
What are we to learn from this? God expects fathers to lead, live righteous lives and to model righteous living. Perhaps you had a dishonorable father and you can resonate with this story. Seek to forgive that father so that God can bless you. Perhaps you are a father and want to raise godly children. Here are few suggestions: 1. immerse yourself in God’s word, study Proverbs and learn how to raise a wise child, 2. study the lives of godly fathers; Joshua: be strong and courageous, Hosea: a father who lives to restore and reconcile, Boaz; a man of character and integrity. Perhaps you are a man who is not yet a father either by choice or design: live a model life and disciple other young men who are in need of a role model.


originally posted on Facebook for bible.org