The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 32:9-12,
“Then Jacob prayed, ‘O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, “Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,” I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, “I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.”'"
I love this prayer of Jacob. He prays this on his return home as his brother Esau, from whom he deceitfully took the patriarchal blessing (by tricking their father, Isaac), is fast approaching with four hundred men. Jacob is a desperate man here, but he was told by the Lord to return home and was assured by the Lord that he would be with him.
In this wonderful prayer Jacob addresses the God of his fathers and reminds him that it was God himself who had asked him to return home and that he would bless him. Jacob humbly acknowledges his unworthiness of all that the Lord had blessed him with up till this time. I don’t read this as “window-dressing” for an elegant prayer. Jacob is genuine here. As we have been reading the accounts of Jacob and the other patriarchs we have found good grounds for this heartfelt humility and contrition. Jacob acknowledges he came with nothing and so everything he has (which is very substantial at this time in his life) is not due to his hard work or craftiness but what the Lord has blessed him with.
Jacob asks deliverance from the peril he is facing based on the Lord’s own promise to him. I can’t help but think this a very appropriate prayer for me. I find myself in this life, having arrived with nothing, blessed with family, home and many wonderful things, facing certain death, as we all do. Whatever it is I do have I must acknowledge it as blessings from God. He has called me heavenward, to an eternal destination as a home with him and all others who heed his call. As the Lord made his promises to Jacob so he does to me. Just look at this wonderful promise made to us in Romans 10:9:
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
And look at what he blesses us with in Ephesians 1:3-14:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ… In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ… In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding… And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.”
Just as Jacob acknowledged it was the Lord who was responsible for all he had in life, so must I. Just as Jacob’s hope of deliverance from deadly peril was to be sought from the Lord, so must I. It is the Lord himself who beckons me, who has called me homeward to him.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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