Genesis 32:1–21

Hey good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions give me a second I'm gonna jump online make sure everybody is able to join us live. Give me one moment here as I make sure we are going live everywhere. Perfect. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions is where every day you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee. We get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year 2023 Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus. We're at Genesis chapter 32. Today, well, we have some coffee, we'll pray and we'll jump into the Lord's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much. You woke us up today. Your mercies are new, your compassions Do not fail. So Father, we thank You for Your Word. And I pray that You would bless us now as we read it. Help us understand, Lord, we need your Spirit to teach us in Jesus's name. Amen. Okay, so we are at Genesis 32. So, Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's camp and he called the name of that place, Maha Naim. Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother in the land of serum, the country of Edom, and he commanded them saying, speak thus to my Lord Esau, thus your servant Jacob says, I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. And I have sent to tell my Lord, that I may find favor in your sight. Then the messengers returned to Jacob saying we came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you. And 400 men are with him. So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. And he divided the people that were with him in the flocks and herds and camels into two companies. And he said if he saw comes to one company and attacks it, than the other company, which is left will escape. Then Jacob said, oh 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 dwell with you or I will do well with you. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truths 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. Let's see, come and attack me and the mother with the children. And you said, I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as a sand of the sea. which cannot be numbered for multitude. So he lodged there that same night, and took what came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother 200 Female goats and 20 male goats 200 us and 20 Rams 30 Milk camels for their colt with their colts, 40 cows and 10 bowls 20 female donkeys and 10 Falls. Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every every drove by itself, and said to his servants, pass over before me and put some distance between successive droves and he commanded the first one saying when he saw my brother meets you and asks you saying, To whom do you belong and where are you going? Who's are these in front of you? Then you shall say they are your servant Jacobs. It is a present sent to my Lord, He's home, and behold, he is also behind us. So he commanded the second, the third, and all who followed the droves saying, in this manner you should you shall speak thus to Esau when you find him and also say, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the President that goes before me and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me. So the President went on before him, but himself lodge that night in the camp. Well, we need to ask ourselves, a, what is this about? B, what's the best versus summarises and see what are we called to do? So a What is this about? Well, Jacob has left Perdana RAM, he's left the house of Laban. He's going back to the land that God has told him to go to. In there, the tension starts right away. Right. So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. Right when when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's camp. He goes and he find the camp there, and somehow he sees these angels. This is a second time he's seen these angels. The first time was at Bethel. When he had put his head on the stone like a pillow and he had had that dream of the angels ascending and descending on the ladder. Here we find he's what he calls Maha name. But instead of this giving him comfort, his heart seems to be immediately gripped by fear. Now this might be legitimate fear, remember? The last time Jacob has interacted with Esau? It was when his mother Rachel was pleading with his father Isaac, that he would be able to get out of dodge, that he would be able to leave because Esau wanted to kill him. He did not want to be his friend. He did not want to love him as a brother. He didn't want to wrap his hands around his arms, but he wanted to put his hands around his neck. He was waiting for the day that his father would die so he could murder his brother. And so his mother sent him away. I don't think anybody was planning for him. To be gone. 20 years, but you was. And so he's gone that full time. He's out of there. And now he's coming back. And the rest of the story is him being concerned about how is he going to preserve the life of his family and how is he going to appease his brother? So He preserves his family by putting it into two different camps. There's gonna be this camp over here in this camp over here. That way, if Esau comes, and he attacks one, then this camp is he will flee and be safe. But it's not good enough just that he has his family somehow being able to be safe, but he also sends droves of presents, that he maybe he can, if time hasn't cooled anger, maybe essentially re giving him as much of his birthright as you can, will, since the sheep, and then the goats and then the rams and then the camels all going in front of him so that way, a president will come and then a little while later, another president will come and then a little while later, another president will come and then a little while later, another president will come and Esau hopefully by the time Jacob finally comes, all of a sudden he goes, Man, you know, this guy isn't so bad. after all. Maybe he's learned his lesson. So this is Jacob's plan. But notice what's in the middle of this, between him breaking up the families and him sending the droves of gifts. In the heart of this is verse nine through 12. His prayer it's amazing the prayer that Jacob has. Now notice the parts of his prayer in nine through 12. That he calls out to who he's praying to in verse nine. Oh god of the of my father. Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac. And this is L this is a the generic word for God, or but it's the God of whom Isaac and Abraham and he calls upon not just a generic God, but he uses the divine name you would evolve hay. In the second part of verse nine, your Hova who said to me, return to your country and to your family and I will dwell do well with you. So he reminds god, you're the one who called me out of levens house, you're the one who's told me to leave. And then he humbles himself in verse nine, or verse 10. Sorry, I am not worthy of the least of all the the mercies and of all the truth which you have shown your servant he humbles Himself says I'm not worthy of what you've done for me. I'm not worthy of what you've shown me. But then he recalls God's merciful acts to him and the rest of verse 10. For I cross over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. He had gone out as a single bachelor. And now there's two companies in his family. six children on one side, six children on the other side. There's a whole bunch of people. And then he cries out to God in verse 11, deliver me I pray from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau. Why, for I fear him. Let's see, come and take me Am I'm and the mother and the children, right? He doesn't hide his fear from the Lord, but he comes and he tells the Lord, his fear, he tells him the anguish of his soul. And then in verse 12, he reminds God He reminds god of his covenant for you said, I will surely treat you well. And make your descendants as they'll sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. I think that's the heart of this passage, and that's what I would underline in this passage. There are other things I have underlined because I underlined a lot of things. This really gets at the heart of Jacob. Something is starting to change and Jacob. It's like the Lord is starting to work in his heart, and we're gonna find that this really comes to play in the next section tomorrow. But here we find Jacob crying to God. Going to Him in prayer. When anxiety is ready to grip his heart, he humbles himself before God. He remembers what God has shown him. He remembers what God has done for him. And he reminds god of his promises. I think it's a great model for prayer. And obviously, the Lord gives us Jesus Himself gives us the best of prayers on the Sermon on the Mount, but yet, as a Westminster shorter Catechism says the whole Bible is, is good for us to pray. I think this is a good model for prayer for us to humble ourselves, to remember what God has told us to remember what God has done for us. And for us to remind him of his covenant promises. We'll do that this morning. Let's let's close this out with some prayer. Oh God, the God of our father Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. The one who sits in heaven enthroned. You are the Lord Yehovah you are the one who has called yourself by your name. And you have called us to be your people. Lord, we do not deserve this. conceived and sin from birth. Rebels at heart. Lord, you know our frame, but you have called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. You have given us your word. You have told us the stories of your covenant promises. Lord and you have taken out our Hearts of Stone and given us hearts of flesh. You have filled our days with good but most of all you have given us your Son, Jesus Christ while we were yet sinners. You displayed your great love for us in fulfilling your covenant promises, and applying them to us, Lord, we pray that you would not forsake your work that you would not leave us undone. But Lord, you would complete the good work that you have begun in us unto the day of perfection. Lord, please make us more and more thankful. keep our eyes focused upon you. Let us love you all the days of our lives. And Lord, we pray that we would follow after you that we would walk in the good works that you have called us to do. In Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you. May the peace of Jesus Christ wash over your soul and may it surpass all understanding and guard your heart. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai