Will God come through for us? (Gen 32:1-21)

When I went to study for a PhD in the UK, finances didn’t look good. My earlier savings went into my undergraduate studies in the UK, my church in Hungary was not interested in supporting advanced study and my church in the UK treated me like just another student who would move on. Thus, when I flew back to Durham (UK) after the summer, I had no money for the PhD. Yet I felt that God had led me this way and that He would provide if this was truly His will. When I arrived, a fellow student offered me the tithe of his newly won scholarship. It was a surprising act of generosity from someone whom I did not know too well and who had a large family to feed (four or was it five children at that point?). Next, the theology department recommended me for a substantial university scholarship and together with some smaller grants and gifts from friends, I had what I needed for that first year. Amazingly, God came through for me.

Encouragement and threat

For Jacob, his obedience to God’s will meant facing the brother he defrauded. Twenty years earlier, Esau was ready to murder him. How will he respond now? Given Jacob’s earlier flight from Laban and his angry outbursts that only occurred at times of extreme provocation, he seems to have been an essentially fearful person, not one to enjoy confrontation. Thus, his obedience to God is costly. Yet the Lord knows his heart and sends encouragement in the form of angels, a reminder perhaps of his dream at Bethel (Gen 28:12). Jacob naming the place Mahanaim (‘two camps/companies’; Gen 32:2) suggests that he recognises the earthly and heavenly reality (his company and God’s). He is not alone. Neither is he slinking into the land unannounced but sends messengers to Esau using deferential language (‘your servant’, ‘my lord’) and making clear that having plenty himself he is not after Esau’s property (Gen 32:3-5). His brother’s reaction to the message is ambiguous and rather ominous. There is no verbal reply, but he is coming with four hundred men (Gen 32:6)! Jacob is in a panic: will he lose everything he worked for because he followed God’s will? Sometimes obedience can land us into seemingly impossible situations. Will God come through for us?

Damage limitation, prayer, appeasement

Jacob tries to limit the possible damage by dividing his flocks and herds into two companies (Gen 32:7-8) but then also remembers to pray. He reminds himself as much as God that He has told him to return and assured him of a good outcome (Gen 32:9). As he recalls how he left the country with nothing and looks at the two companies he has become, he knows God’s faithfulness (Gen 32:10). Yet fear again grips him as he prays earnestly for God to deliver him (Gen 32:11). His fluctuation between faith and fear reminds me of Peter walking on water and then sinking when he looked at the waves (Matt 14:28-30).

Jacob’s next move to create five droves of animals sent ahead as presents for Esau (Gen 32:13-21) may be read cynically as a way of buttering up his brother. It is true, he did not think of compensation for Esau earlier, so perhaps it is panic that drives him. Yet, commentators note the sacrificial associations of the language, which may indicate that more is going on here. In the Hebrew, ‘present’ (minḥa) is also the word used for ‘sacrifice’ offered to God and ‘to appease’ (kipper) also means ‘to atone’ for sin (Gen 32:20). While Jacob’s motivation may not be entirely pure, God is moving him towards reconciliation that will involve some compensation to Esau for being defrauded.

The God who comes through for us

Our reading teaches us that when we are doing God’s will we are on journey which may involve difficulty and uncertainty, and which always requires trust in the faithfulness of God. Fears may fight with our faith, but the Lord is only a prayer away. He knows our deepest anxieties and will carry us through even when the situation we are facing came about because of our sin, as in Jacob’s case. The Lord is the God who comes through for those who put their trust in Him.

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