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When God is at work

Sometimes when we are reading the Bible we may wonder why particular events are recorded. We may be tempted to think that the Bible is simply a collection of unrelated stories – interesting perhaps but fulfilling no further purpose. At first glance I suppose that Gen.33 might be seen as one of those chapters. But we should not allow our first glances to dominate our thinking!

Moses wrote this history of the people of Israel while the people themselves were massing on the borders of the Promised Land themselves waiting to go in and take possession of what God had promised them. They had been wandering in the wilderness for some 40 years having been delivered from a 400 year long period of enslavement in Egypt. Would they indeed be able to take the land – after all their immediate ancestors had so dismally failed to do so? Was God able to help them? Was there anything that might be an encouragement to them to maintain their trust in God?

In our own lives we are from time to time confronted with crisis events. How are we to proceed? What should we do? Can we trust God? Has He anything to say to us?

When we begin to remember the situation the Israelites found themselves in when they read these accounts for the first time then the whole story starts to burst forth with relevance and meaning. As we consider God's ways with Jacob may we also see that His ways of dealing are still most relevant to us today in the 21^st century.

On his way back to the land Jacob had sent a message to his brother Esau that he was returning home. The news report that came back to Jacob was one that threw Jacob into a panic. Esau was coming to meet him and had 400 men with him!

You'll remember that 20 years earlier Jacob had fled for his life from Esau who was so enraged by his brother's duplicity that he had sworn to kill him. Doubtless Jacob had hoped that this hatred would have calmed during that 20 period but it seems not as he receives the news.

Jacob is driven to God in his fear. He prayed earnestly and seriously in ch.32 and that chapter came to an end with that phenomenal encounter between God and Jacob. In that encounter Jacob is graciously allowed to prevail with God but the "cost" of such prevailing is a transformation of life and character. Having met with God in such a strikingly personal way Jacob is not left to carry on just as before. His character is changed – symbolised by his name being changed from Jacob to Israel – and the effect is visible in his life as he now has walks with a limp. (This is not to suggest that as soon as a person meets with God he will suffer in his body but we are meant to understand that a real encounter with God does produce radical changes in that person's life.)

Have you yet met with God? Throughout the Bible God invites to similar encounters. Have you heard any of invitations? Have you responded to any of them?

Is.1:18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Or again:

Mt.11:28-29 "Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

We can meet with God in a personal way only through our Lord Jesus Christ. We must not try to come any other way because it is only Jesus who has dealt with the problem of our sins. He dealt with that problem when He died as a willing sacrifice paying the price of the sin of all those who will come trustingly to Him. Have you come? Come this evening!

God had worked in Jacob's life in response to his desperate prayerful pleading and His response involved changing Jacob. But do you notice that the circumstances haven't changed at all!

Jacob had been driven to prayer because Esau was coming towards him with 400 men and now in ch.33 we find that that is still the case!

We need to pause and to learn from this. So often when we pray we long for our circumstances to be changed in an instant but God's way is frequently different. Instead of changing our circumstances He begins by changing us because "we" are the real problem. Have you come to see that yet in your own life? While we might like to think that everything would be perfect if only this change or that change took place in our circumstances – but we know from experience that it won't be long before another problem presents itself, and then another and another. The constant factor is not to be found in our circumstances but in ourselves – we might not like to face up to it but it is us who need changing. And God is so good that He won't tolerate second best for those who cry out to Him.

If you are not yet a Christian then you need to know that if you come to God by faith in Christ in accepting you God won't let you carry on just as before – He won't content Himself with a few superficial changes He will work profoundly in you.

It didn't look to good for Jacob did it? He had his wives and children and a number of servants to look after his flocks of animals. On the other hand Esau was accompanied by 400 men – a small army!

And yet looks were to prove deceptive. Jacob had been concerned to secure favour. Back in ch.32 when he had first sent messengers to Esau it was to secure favour v.5. In prayer he had sought the Lord's favour and was insistent that the Lord bless him. Now here in ch.33 finding favour is again uppermost in his mind.

Jacob first found favour with God and then this favour worked itself out subsequently in his relationship with his brother. The two events of meeting with God at Peniel and meeting with Esau are clearly related as Jacob makes clear as he speaks to Esau in terms that recall his meeting with God 33:10.

Let's look at the meeting between the two brothers:

Jacob having met with God is a new man but he is not blasé about how everything will work out.

He carefully divides his family into three groups but whereas before he seemed to be hiding behind them now he goes out ahead of them to meet his brother. He acts towards Esau with respect and honour – confidence in God does not have to lead to "men behaving badly" and Jacob is neither brash nor rude as he approaches Esau.

And what does Jacob find? He finds his brother Esau totally transformed! Here is no hostile brother intent on spilling his blood but a brother who comes running to greet him, to fall upon his neck not with blows but with kisses. The meeting is an emotional affair with both brothers weeping profusely. Esau will prove to be no obstacle to Jacob re-entering the Promised Land because the LORD was keeping His pledges and promises to Jacob!

There then follows a lengthy discussion between the two brothers which is recorded for us in vv.5-15. In this discussion Jacob answers a number of questions that Esau put to him and he explains what he has been trying to secure by his varied actions.

His words are helpful to us in that they illustrate both the way in which we often try to secure blessings and the way in which we should respond to receiving blessing.

1.     Jacob had sent droves or animals ahead of him to try to secure Esau's favour.  

How often we pursue this method in our dealings with God! We offer Him things, we promise Him things, we act as though there is something that we can do that will indeed carry weight with Him and render Him well-disposed towards us. To put it bluntly we think that we can buy favour with God.

2.     Esau hasn't been moved by these offers. He hasn't understood what Jacob intended by them and certainly stands in no need of them. He is happy to be reconciled to Jacob without these "bribes".

In a similar way God is not to be "bought" by our gifts and offerings. He needs nothing from us and in His grace freely offers us relationship with Himself.

This is not to say that no price has to be paid – our relationship with God comes free to us but at tremendous cost to God Himself – the death of His Son Jesus Christ. But we are never to think or imagine that somehow we can ingratiate ourselves to Him by own efforts. He cannot love us more than He does in Jesus Christ already!

3.     When Esau refuses to be bought by Jacob declaring that reconciliation has already taken place Jacob changes tune. He still offers gifts to Esau but they are no longer gifts to secure Esau's favour but precisely now because that favour has been granted!

How right and proper this is and how applicable to our own relationship with God. There is no way we can contribute anything to our reconciliation with Him – we are sinners and He is Holy. Our sin must be taken away and that is something we cannot do ourselves – what we cannot do He does and offers us freely by His grace. The proper response to such favour being accorded to us is to love God wholeheartedly – service is now thanksgiving. Our lives are to be presented as living sacrifices to Him not that we might be saved but because He has saved us!!

My friend, let me ask you "Do you know anything of this reconciling grace of God at work in your life? Have you realized that you may enjoy peace with God because God has reached out to you in love, love that expressed itself in giving His Only Son that those who believe in Him might not perish but have eternal life?"

Will you not respond to the love of God tonight?

One final point and then we're done.

God works with imperfect people.

Jacob, the twister, was far from perfect. Jacob the man who had met with God at Peniel and who had been so significantly and profoundly changed was still imperfect. It is important for us to notice this so that we do not have unrealistic expectations either of ourselves or of other Christians.

When a person declares himself to be a Christian he is in no way declaring himself to be perfect, to having arrived spiritually. A Christian is a person who realizes he is a sinner who cannot save himself and so has looked away from himself to the Lord Jesus Christ who can save him!

Transformation begins – radical profound changes have taken place and progress will continue to be made – the goal of God's salvation is holiness, the restoration of the image of God in man. But progress is still necessary throughout this life and sometimes it is painfully slow and sometimes there are reverses and backslidings. But God does not abandon His purposes.

Where is all this in this passage? Let me show you.

Esau sets off to return to Seir – it's outside the Promised Land. He invites Jacob to follow him there. Jacob suggests that he's going to follow Esau there but will have to travel slowly because of his little children and the herds he has.

But when Esau goes Jacob head off not SE towards Seir but NW towards Succoth where he settles. Succoth was in the Promised Land – it would later belong to the territories of the tribe of Gad on the Eastern Side of the River Jordan. Jacob was right to go to the Promised Land – that is after all the place to where the LORD had called him. But he was wrong to have deceived his brother Esau about his intentions. Yes, he could have advanced a variety of reasons, he could have justified as harmless "white lies" his deception but he was wrong to have done so and it reflected a less than transparent confidence in the God who had done such remarkable things for him so very recently!

This would serve as a warning to the people of Israel in Moses' day to be careful as sin lurks ready to pounce. We Christians should take heed too – Jesus taught His disciples to pray about not being led into temptation and warned His closest followers about the need to watch and pray lest they fall into temptation.

And yet God did not throw up His hands in holy horror and reject Jacob because his spiritual progress was flawed but continued with him.

How this should encourage us too! We shouldn't be complacent with sin but neither should we be unconsolable as though the LORD will have nothing more to do with us:

1Jn.1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

If the LORD knows that we will not become perfect overnight and provides for us to be cleansed and forgiven on a regular basis let us be careful that we do not harshly judge and condemn others because their progress is all it might be!  AMEN.