Jacob’s Prayer

After Jacob and Laban part, putting aside their animosity for both their own sake and for their families, Jacob prepares to face his brother for the first time in decades. They had not parted on good terms, in the least; the last time Jacob had seen Esau, Esau planned to kill him. Jacob attempts to initiate first contact, sending a handful of messengers toward his brother’s lands. They return with deeply troubling news: “We came to your brother Esau, and he is also coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

Jacob immediately readies himself for the worst, splitting his family and herdsmen apart, hoping that at least some of the people that mattered to him most could escape Esau’s wrath, if it came. He takes precautions because he is afraid, but takes pragmatic steps. He could have continued on his own from there. Who knows what other less-than-wise decisions could have come next, further fueled by fear. But Jacob does not choose to stew in his fear, because he is not the same man that he was when he fled from his father’s lands.

In Genesis 32, after doing the wisest and most sensible human thing he could, Jacob prays.

“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. For You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” (Genesis 32:9–12)

He calls to God, declaring who He is and what He had told Jacob to do. Jacob recognizes how none of his own actions or decisions would have made him even remotely worthy of God’s mercy and blessings. He reminds himself of what God had given him.

Then, Jacob tells the whole truth, and asks God for help:

“Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children.”

He is facing something that frightens him — not even for his own sake, but for his children, for his loved ones. There is a real, genuine threat on the horizon. Jacob took action, did what he could to make sure his family was as safe as he could get them.

But that’s not where he left things.

“God, I’m scared. I’m scared for my future, my life, my family…my children. But I remember who You are, and what You’ve done. I believe you can deliver me from this shadow, because You made a Promise. You kept that promise for my grandpa and my dad. I know you’ll keep it now.”

I’m not facing anything like that; I don’t know if I’ve ever come close to that kind of threat, that kind of fear.

I know that people do, and that people are facing it right now.

Maybe you’ve prepared for the worst; maybe you’ve done what you can to spare your family from whatever fallout you fear. That’s as far as you need to go on your end. You don’t need to fight back or plead.

Hand over your fear, your family, and your future to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God who says “‘I will surely treat you well”. The God who keeps His promises — and the God who restores what has been lost and broken. Do that, and see what He will do.