Genesis 32 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Genesis 32.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/32/1/s_32001

Meditate on verse 7a.

 

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.

 

God freed Jacob from Laban, and afterward forced him to face an old enemy, his brother Esau.  Jacob sent messengers to let Esau know he was coming home, and they returned with the message his brother was coming with 400 men to meet him! Jacob assumed this welcoming party did not have good intentions, and he quickly went into panic mode, dividing his family into two companies and surrounding himself with them, as if they were an army.  He selected 580 of his animals, his blessings from God, to give Esau as a peace offering.  After his acts of desperation, Jacob put in a cry for God to deliver him.

Thankfully, in the midst of faithless acts, God in His faithfulness hears a cry for His help.

As the presents were delivered and his wives and children were sent ahead to face the enemy, Jacob was left alone to face God.  It wasn’t a pleasant encounter because God wrestled with Jacob all night.  But even a wrestling match with God is meant for good, so you can be thankful when it comes.  The match ended with God blessing Jacob and giving him a new name, Israel.  He indeed would be the father of God’s great nation as promised to his grandfather, Abraham (Genesis 12:2).  The match also ended with Jacob being humbled by God; he walked the rest of his life with a limp, a reminder for Jacob to fear God and not man.

Examine your life.  What do you fear?  What are you sacrificing to protect yourself?  

STOP! Take a deep breath and pray Genesis 32:10-12 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, _________ and I are unworthy of
all the lovingkindness

 and of all the faithfulness which You have shown us.


Deliver us, I pray, from the hand of ____________,


for we fear them, that they will come out and attack us.

Help us to trust You and Your promises, LORD.


In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the Wall ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell