Does God Really Need Our Help?

I did it! I am actually on track with my daily reading, and blogging about it the same day! Yes! It's much easier to write about 3 chapters than 31! (So sorry about yesterday for anyone who laboured through it!)

So today in chapter 32, we learn that Jacob FINALLY breaks free of his uncle Laban and is heading back to his homeland with all his family, possessions and herds of animals. Remember, when he went there he was all by himself, but that awesome blessing was upon him and he is now returning to his homeland, 25 years later, as a very wealthy man with a huge family.

But, he does so cautiously because he perceives there might be a problem lying ahead for him. It's been over 25 years since Jacob's been home! He thinks back to the last time he saw his twin brother Esau and his reasons for leaving home in the first place. Remember back in chapter 25 when Esau came in from a long day of hunting and was famished? He asked Jacob if he could have some of the stew Jacob had cooked up. Jacob told his twin brother he would give it to him under one condition only...that Esau would trade his birthright for it. Esau must have been starving hungry, because he took him up on the trade. He got his belly filled and gave no more thought to losing his birthright. Until chapter 27, that is.

Just to recap a bit, Isaac was getting up in years and perceived that he might be dying soon and feels it's the proper time to give his blessing to his firstborn, Esau.

He tells his son Esau to bring him some fresh cooked game, he would eat it and then pronounce the blessing of the firstborn on him. Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother overhears this conversation and devises a scheme for Jacob to receive the blessing instead of Esau. You can read the story in chapter 27, but needless to say, when Esau comes back after following his fathers command, and finds that Jacob had received the blessing that he was just about to get...he was distraught to say the least! So now here's Esau, who has not only lost his birthright to Jacob over a bowl of stew, but now their father has been deceived into giving the blessing to Jacob as well! It says in vs 41 that Esau hated his brother Jacob and was planning to kill him when the time was right.

Rebekah overhears Esau's plan to kill Jacob and advises Jacob to flee to Haran to her brother, Laban. Which, as we know, he did for 25 years.

So, with all that in his memory bank, Jacob sends his servants on ahead of him, to find Esau and inform him of Jacob's coming back. He's attempting to prepare the way for his big arrival, softening the blow, so to speak.
The servants do as Jacob commands them and they come back with the news....Esau is coming to meet his twin brother and he's coming with 400 of his men!

Jacob starts shaking in his boots at the thought of what this might mean! This can't be good he thinks, he's probably coming to make good on his plans to kill me, even if it has been 25 years!

Now he's very afraid and in 32:9 Jacob cries out to God to deliver him from the hand of his brother Esau. Jacob reminds God of the promise that is on him as a descendant of Abraham. He has to live, or how else will the promise come to pass?

The prayer to God shows Jacob's dependence on God, but just to make sure, Jacob decides to send gifts, lots of them, on ahead via his servants, to try and soften the blow. You know, to help God out, just in case.

Isn't that just how we are? We cry out to God to deliver us when we are in a tight spot and then we try and help Him with the deliverance plan.

Here's my take on this story. I think Esau was indeed still harboring hate towards Jacob and thinking, 'finally...he's back'. Jacob's fear of his brother wasn't just imagined. But he prayed. And so do we. And then we go about devising our own plans to help Him out instead of resting in the finished work of Christ.

I believe that God answered Jacob's prayer right when he prayed it, and turned the heart of Esau with favor towards his brother. Jacob didn't deserve it, and neither do we. That's called Grace. I do not believe it was necessary for Jacob to send all those 500 or so gifts of his flocks up ahead to appease Esau. Seriously, do you think gifts would change the heart of hate that Esau had toward his brother? Only God could accomplish the turning of a heart, which we know He did as we read on in this story.
Esau embraced his brother Jacob, they wept together. And Esau didn't even want the gifts. It really was what you might call a "half-trust" on Jacob's part in believing God's faithfulness to deliver him. 'I believe He will hear my prayer...but just in case....I will do something to make sure, just in case God's plan isn't enough. One of the names of God is El Shaddai, which means "More Than Enough".

Why is it that it's hard to believe God will deliver us when we are in the tight spots of life? Regardless of whether we put ourselves in the spot or if it's just the result of living in a fallen world, God is a deliverer of His children. He hears and answers us when we pray. But how can we be sure? Because the Word of God tells us so, and God's Word is TRUTH.

Do we believe it's truth or don't we? At what point does our Christianity rubber meet the road? Something to meditate on, at least for me it is.

Chapter 34 tells us that Jacob is now safely back in his homeland, in his brothers good graces, and he settles in the city of Shechem. But trouble isn't far from his door, as his daughter, Dinah ventures out to meet some new friends and is taken "captive" by the Prince of Shechem. He likes what he sees! He puts the cart before the horse and decides to try out her merchandise first, and then asks for her hand in marriage from her father and her brothers. That's putting it nicely.

The people of Shechem think it would be a great idea if they all became friends and relatives, starting with the marriage of Dinah and the Prince. They want to become one big happy family, if you will. Not so fast. Dinah's brothers are steamin' mad about this violation of their sister and to make a long story short (you can read the long story for yourself) they devise a plan to deceive the people of Shechem into thinking all is well...let's all be friends and family is great, but before this can happen you'all have to be circumcised as we, Jacob's people are.

The people of Shechem decide that's a fair enough trade and they go along with the plan. But a few day's later when they are healing up from their circumcisions and still very sore, Jacob's sons Levi and Siemon, attack the people of the city of Shechem, kill all the men, plunder the city and retrieve their sister Dinah from the Prince's palace. They feel pretty darn good about their valiant efforts to defend their sister, and besides that, look at all the new "stuff" they have now.

They do all this without Jacob's knowledge or consent. In fact, now Jacob is steamin' made at what his son's have done. In their anger they have taken things into their own hands. I see a pattern developing here: Jacob started out as a deceiver and now so are his sons. Jacob takes things into his own hands and now so do his son's. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? I haven't read the next chapters yet, that's for tomorrow, but I'll bet there will be a few consequences because of their taking matters into their own hands and not consulting the will of God about it. We shall see. To be continued....

So, the lesson I have learned from today's reading is about trusting God when we pray for Him to deliver us from our problems. What if I just waited upon the Lord to deliver me instead of trying to fix things in my own strength? I'm a fixer by nature, I think most women are. But when I go ahead of God and try to fix things without knowing I've heard from Him, I rob myself of seeing the full deliverance of the Lord in my life. I get the credit for my own deliverance in a situation instead of Him. And my way of delivering myself will always be incomplete and 2nd best. His way will always be better, always more. After all, He's El Shaddai. But sometimes it's so hard to wait and to rest in His faithfulness when you just want to just be delivered, NOW! One of my favorite songs is called "Painting Pictures of Egypt" by Sara Groves. My favorite line in the song is the chorus: "If it comes to quick, I may not recognize it. If it comes to quick, I may not appreciate it. Is that the reason for all this time and sand?"

Right now I'd like to share a wonderful New Testament verse with you to wrap up this day's blog: Hebrews 4:10-11 - for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore STRIVE to enter that rest..."

Jesus spoke of this rest in Matthew 11:28-30. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". He's not talking about resting from our physical labor, but resting from the burdens of living in this world and using our inadequate physical resources to meet our own needs. We are to come to Jesus. We are to look to Him to meet our needs, whether they be emotional needs, healing needs, financial needs, relational needs, it doesn't matter what the need is. Philippians 4:19 says: But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I don't know if this is significant, but the word need in that verse is not plural. A need is a need is a need. And we need God. He tells us to put our trust in Him alone and not in the ways of this world. And then just rest. I really like the sound of that, don't you?