Tuesdays with Jacob

Read Genesis 32:6-8 – Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.” (NKJV)

Jacob’s effort to reconnect with Esau gets off to a rocky start and it seems that the younger brother panics. We probably can’t blame him. After all, he cheated his brother out of his father’s blessing and fled for his life. Though twenty years have passed, Jacob knows that time doesn’t heal all wounds. It certainly didn’t heal things between him and Laban. But time will show that Jacob’s fears are unfounded. Esau isn’t coming with retribution in mind so Jacob’s anxiety proves to be a lot of wasted energy. Makes you wonder how much of our daily anxieties have no foundation in fact. Jacob lives with God’s promise on his life, a similar promise to the one God has extended to us. If God is for us and with us and has promised to lead us as we put our trust in Him, what do our anxieties accomplish? Aren’t those feelings of turmoil just a way of encouraging us to lose faith? Ultimately, Jacob will take action to prepare for Esau’s supposed onslaught. He’ll make choices based on his fears. Sadly, we make many similar choices. We act on what we think someone might do or what we fear someone might be planning. And when you see the world in those dark tones, well, it’s hard to make quality decisions. Fear seldom leads to the best God has to offer.

– Dr. Mike Clarensau serves as Senior Director of the Healthy Church Network of the Assemblies of God.