Lesson 18 - Jacob Meets Esau:
 Planning, Prayer and Struggle
 Read Genesis 32-33 - www.bible.com/bible/59/gen.32
 
The previous study ended with reconciliation and peaceful departure. Now Jacob resolutely heads toward another confrontation with his adversary of twenty years earlier—his brother Esau, whom he cheated. Jacob combines planning and prayer as he obeys God's command to return to his country and relatives. His struggle can teach us how to resolve past wrongs and win reconciliation with someone we have injured.

The first thing Jacob did was to send ahead some presents for Esau, when he heard his brother was coming to meet him. The message Jacob received said Esau was coming with an armed group, so Jacob was afraid to face him with his precious family where they could be captured or killed. He had no way of knowing if Esau was still angry at him.

*Whom would you protect first if you had to make a choice?

Then Jacob sent his family away from the camp just in case his presents didn’t work and Esau decided to attack during the night. But Jacob stayed behind, and we read of the struggle between him and God during that night.

Do you sometimes struggle with God in prayer? Please notice that God does not punish Jacob for doing so in this chapter. God is not afraid of our struggle or questions or pain or even anger. He wants us to bring all these things to Him. He hears us, and He wants us to hear Him too. Remember the story of Jesus taking three of his disciples up on the mountain where they saw Him talking with Elijah and Moses? You can read it in Matthew 17:1-9.


When they became excited about seeing these two men with Jesus, they started making great plans for how to honor all three. But God said, “Listen to Jesus.” Look in verse 12 – Jesus wasn’t interested in places of honor, He told them He had come to die. When we struggle with God, He will listen to us – but we also need to listen to Him. His plans may well be far different from those we’re asking Him about in our struggle. Are we listening? Can we accept a cross instead of a temple to replace our plans?

But just like Jacob, we need to plan for things when God doesn’t directly tell us how to do something. But all our plans need to be brought before Him for approval. We need a mixture of planning and prayer just as Jacob did. He labored and believed, planned and prayed.

Sometimes, just as God did with Jacob, He will change us too. Sometimes it might be a physical disability of some kind He will leave as a mark on our life, a kind of seal that we have been with God and now we are completely dependent on Him for the rest of our lives. The Apostle Paul had such an experience, he prayed 3 times for God to remove the disability (see 2 Corinthians 12:8-10). God’s answer was no, and Paul never again asked because he realized this was God’s mark on his life just as God touched Jacob in this passage and left him marked for life.

*Are you willing to bear the mark of God on your life so He can make you a witness for Him?