SAVE ME, I PRAY

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.

Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed them: "This is what you are to say to my master Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'"

When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."

In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape."

Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"

He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds."

He instructed the one in the lead: "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?' then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.' "

He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: "You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. And be sure to say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" For he thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me."

So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked.

Jacob answered, "They are the children God has graciously given your servant."

Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.

Esau asked, "What do you mean by all these droves I met?"

"To find favor in your eyes, my lord," he said.

But Esau said, "I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself."

"No, please!" said Jacob. "If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need."

And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.

Then Esau said, "Let us be on our way; I'll accompany you." But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir."

Esau said, "Then let me leave some of my men with you."

"But why do that?" Jacob asked. "Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord."

So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Succoth.

Genesis 32:1-21, 33:1-17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Fresh off his encounter with Laban, Jacob had barely enough time to catch his breath before he receives the news that Esau, his older that he stole Isaac’s blessing from, was coming to see him with a force of 400 men, easily enough fighting men to completely annihilate Jacob, his family and his servants.

The scriptures tell us that Jacob was "in great fear and distress" over the news and so he begins to try and formulate a strategy to try and at least spare some of his people from what he assumed as to be an onslaught from Esau. We read where he divides "the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well," as he must have thought to himself:

“If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape."

On the surface, it seemed like a logical plan but there was only one problem.

It was Jacob’s plan, not God’s.

Friends, how many times do we make the same mistake? How often do we develop our own plans for dealing with a situation without first consulting the Lord?

Well, it doesn’t take Jacob long to turn to God because we read that as soon as he had decided what to do, he then turned his attention to prayer which is the opposite process that the Lord wants us to follow. For He would want us to first consult Him and then carry out the plan He gives provides.

Let’s now go back to the scriptures and look at Jacob’s prayer as he lifts up his voice to Heaven and says:

"O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"

All and all, this is an awesome prayer, one that is genuine born from the depths of Jacob’s heart and soul. Within it, we find important elements of prayer that we should keep in mind:

First, we need to approach the throne with humility.

Notice that before Jacob asks God for what he wants, he humbles himself before his Lord saying:

"I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant."

Jacob was well aware of all the many wrongs he had committed and so we find him acknowledging the fact that he was a sinner and unworthy of good thing from God.

The truth is that he’s not alone.

We’re all in the same situation and that’s why we should follow the example of Jacob and approach the Lord of grace with absolute humbleness.

The second thing we should do in prayer is acknowledge that we need saved.

After he humbles himself, Jacob cries out to the Lord saying:

"Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children."

You see, no matter how well Jacob may have devised a plan on his own, nothing he could have done would have been enough to save him. This is because his only true hope of salvation was through his Father God and the same applies to us today.

Finally, we need to wait and watch for God to respond to our prayers in accordance with His will.

Jacob wasn’t as patient as I think God would have wanted him to be and I say this because he starts to set aside numbers from his flock to send ahead as gifts for Esau.

In his mind, Jacob thought the gifts would appease Esau and keep him and his family safe. But the reality was that no number of sheep, cattle, camels, goats, rams or ewes could match what God could do in the way of changing Esau’s heart. And we know God had to be working on Esau because the last time Jacob was in his proximity, murder was on his mind. This is what led Rebekah to send Jacob to her brother Laban in the first place.

But now, as Jacob approached his older brother fearing the worse, he instead up receiving a greeting he never dreamed possible. For instead of receiving expected violence, Jacob gets unexpected love as Esau runs to meet him before embracing and kissing him.

But that wasn’t all for the scriptures tells us that these two brothers wept together. We get a sense that all the years of pent-up animosity that these two men held for one another was washed away by the tears flowing from their eyes.

Flowing tears of relief.

Flowing tears of forgiveness.

Flowing tears of reconciliation.

Indeed, God intervened to make Esau a changed man and the good news is that He’s still in the business of doing it today. All one needs to do is ask God to step in by proclaiming the same words of Jacob, “Save me, I pray”, and then watch the Lord step in and deliver.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.