Then Jacob prayed, “O
God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you
told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me,
‘I will treat you kindly.’ I
am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me,
your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing
except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! O Lord, please
rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to
attack me, along with my wives and children. But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly,
and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands
along the seashore—too many to count.’” Genesis 32:9-12
A while ago, I was dealing with an issue at home that would
not seem to go away. Each time I thought
it was resolved, I would only find that it had returned. It got to a point where I believed more
drastic measures that could harm relationships with family and friends was
needed. Prayer after prayer and day
after day, it seemed that things did not change, but I kept coming back to
God. Looking back, I realized He did not
necessarily give me the answer I might have wanted at the time, but He always
gave me enough to keep moving forward. Then
one day, the issue went away, and this time it was for good. I had a moment where I actually said to
myself, “Has this really happened?” My
faith in God did not waver although I have to say I did a lot of questioning,
and the experience reaffirmed that God is always with me. It was so humbling that in spite of all my
own flaws, God still loved on me and was faithful.
God is always faithful even when we at times are not. In reading the story of Jacob, I found that
there were a lot of things that he did that were not so nice. He stole a blessing from his older brother,
Esau, and denied his family stole idols from a relative even though his wife
did. Granted he did not know of his
wife’s doings, but still his family certainly had some issues. Furthermore, both of his wives were sibling
rivals to the nth degree! So now, here
comes Esau with an army of men. I thought,
“Now he’s going to get it!” However in Jacob’s
blessing years previously, God promised that He would protect him (Genesis
28:15). Fast forward to today’s verses,
Jacob goes humbly to God reinforcing (maybe to himself?) of His promise. In the end, Esau, instead of coming back at
him with a vengeance, hugs Jacob, and their relationship is restored! All was well, and they made peace. We often encounter situations where we feel
all is lost. Sometimes we wait days, but
others times we wait months and even years.
However, we must always remember God’s promises to us are
unfailing. They never change, and He is
always faithful. We are to be both
grateful and humbled knowing that in spite of our own flaws, we can always
trust in His word.
God is always right and right on time. We often find ourselves questioning if God is
with us because of our own timetable, but we should always remember that
whether we are dealing with strife for an extended period of time or like in
Jacob’s case doom and gloom comes back from years ago, God will be
faithful. Trust in His word, and humbly present
yourself to Him. He will take care of
you. How can God’s promise reassure you
in your troubles today? What can you
both earnestly and humbly pray to God for?
My prayer is that we gain strength knowing that even when underserving,
God is always loving and forever faithful.
Amen.
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