00:08God was with Jacob. God called him out of a foreign land to return to the land of promise,
00:14the land of his fathers. God protected Jacob from harm, keeping Laban, his father-in-law,
00:21and his enemy from harming him or his family. Jacob was walking in obedience, fulfilling his
00:27vow to return to the promised land and walk with his God. But then Esau, his brother and first enemy
00:35was closing in. Even though God protected him from Laban, Jacob was very afraid and upset.
00:42He had stolen the blessing of the firstborn from his brother, and the last time they saw one another,
00:48Esau had vowed to kill him. Very early in Jacob's life, his shrewd character was revealed. He was
00:56cunning and clever, skilled at getting what he wanted. He knew how to manipulate a situation
01:02or deceive a person to accomplish his plans. Until this point, there is no record of him
01:08seeking God's help. The scenes surrounding this event show the development of Jacob's character.
01:15He trusted God to protect him from Laban, and he was obedient to God's command to return to the land.
01:22In all of the previous situations that Jacob manipulated, it is never recorded that he
01:28prayed before acting. Yet, now, when his first enemy was coming his way with four hundred men,
01:34Jacob sought God's protection and deliverance. Even though he was beginning to change,
01:40Jacob still developed a plan to save himself. The gifts he set aside for Esau were an attempt to
01:46repay him for the blessing he had stolen years earlier. Jacob sought to appease his brother by
01:53giving him a large portion of the blessing that God had appointed to him, not Esau. Jacob's gift
01:59shows he was so afraid of Esau's wrath that he was willing to give up what God had divinely given
02:05him.
02:06Jacob asked God for rescue but then tried to rescue himself. How often do we, like Jacob,
02:13seek God's protection, provision, or wisdom and then continue with our plans? As we seek to choose
02:20the things of God and not the things of the world, we must recognize that we often have to wait
02:26for
02:26God's answer. His plans are never thwarted, his blessings never delayed, but our tendency to be
02:33afraid and upset can easily cause us to rely on ourselves for deliverance. Instead of trusting his
02:40timing, we might take extreme measures to guarantee our rescue. May we trust God in all circumstances
02:47and wait for his deliverance. Readings.
