Now comes the crunch time for Jacob. As he is heading home Jacob sends word ahead, probably to test the waters, to see whether, after twenty years, Esau’s grudge against him had softened. Well, it hadn’t softened. His messengers return and tell him that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men! This is clearly not a welcoming party. Esau’s intent here is to attack his brother. So now Jacob is terrified. He realises that he is facing death with little chance of escape. So, what does he do? There is no superstitious ritual that is going to solve this problem (cf. 30:37). Jacob does something now that he is not recorded as having done up until this moment. He prays. Before this time Jacob knew that he was being blessed by God, but this seemed to just happen no matter what he did. He never faced a situation that made him throw himself upon God like now. As we shall see, God evidently answers his prayer because Esau ends up embracing him (33:4). Sometimes we need situations that will make us pray. We should pray in every circumstance, for only with God can we move from ordinary worldly success to spiritual fruitfulness. So, God will lead us into circumstances that will be beyond our natural ability to cope with. He does this to teach us to trust and pray. We should therefore embrace these opportunities in our own lives and on behalf of others as well. We must learn to see need as an open door to experience God.
Is God giving you an opportunity to pray? Is there a need in your life or in the life of someone you know? Bring this to God and ask him to intervene.
Read Genesis 32:1-21
