Apply Within

Bob Davis: If you read the Bible, you’re going to read over and over from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 how much he loves you and how much he cares for you and how much he’s doing for you and all his promises. And still, you get scared and you say, "Oh, we’re going to lose our home. Oh, we’re all going to die!" And God is saying, "Hey Bob, you know what I said. Trust me."

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, apply His Word within our own hearts as we study line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept, verse-by-verse through the Bible. Beginning in Genesis chapter 32, Jacob’s fear rises as he prepares to face Esau. Here’s Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Laban headed on home. Now, Genesis chapter 32 comes up, and we read together, "Jacob, he went on his way, and the angels of God met him." Man! He saw them way back there at Bethel 20 years ago. Remember that? He saw them way back then, he named it Bethel, House of God, this is where God lives. There’s a ladder, there’s a stairway going to heaven, angels coming up and down, Jesus Christ, God Almighty right at the top watching it all.

Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God’s host. This is God’s group, this is God’s camp." And he called the name of the place Mahanaim. He just names things, he just calls it what it is. Bethel, he named 20 years ago, House of God. Mahanaim. The Lord had delivered Jacob out of the hand of his father-in-law Laban. And Laban planned to put Jacob away, six feet under, etcetera. And God said, "Don’t touch him." And Laban listened to God, smart guy.

So God delivered Jacob out of the hands of his father-in-law Laban. Now Jacob continues on his journey that the Lord God sent him on. God said, "Go back to your father’s house, go back to the land of promise, go back to Canaan." He’s on his way, that’s where he’s headed. As Jacob comes closer to that land, he’s thinking about his brother Esau. He’s going to have to deal with Esau, he knows it.

He’s somewhere around here, he’s somewhere around here, and the last time when I left, he was going to murder me. He was going to kill me, that was his plan. He was very angry. So he’s remembering his brother Esau. Jacob cheated his brother out of the blessing. Remember that? He pretended to be Esau and went into his dad, his dad was blind, you remember the whole story.

Even though it’s been 20 years, Jacob knows his brother Esau. And Jacob is afraid that Esau is still looking to get revenge. He doesn’t know, he hasn’t seen him in 20 years. But he’s thinking, "I’d better, I’m a little nervous here. I’m going back in there and Esau’s going to show up. I know we’re going to have to deal with Esau. We’re going to have to, sooner probably rather than later." And Jacob is afraid.

He’s concerned as they head toward the land of Canaan. God in his mercy, everybody, when you think about the way you’re living and you think about the things that you’re a part of and how God is so gracious and so kind and so merciful to all and so loving, God in his mercy and his lovingkindness and his grace allows Jacob to see some more angels. Angels of the Lord, just as he had seen way back there in Bethel 20 years ago. And he named it the House of God, Bethel.

So Jacob is thrilled. God just saved you from your father-in-law. He promised He would protect you, promised He would defend you. He saved you from Laban, and Laban even said, "Your God showed up and told me hands off, leave him alone, or I’d be hurting you right now." And Jacob knows who’s protecting him. I wonder, Christian, if you know who’s protecting you. I wonder if we know who’s protecting us. Do we think it’s our wits that we’re using here? You think it’s really our ability, our toughness? We can handle anything and we’re tough and like chocolate.

God in His mercy lets Jacob see a camp of angels, a whole camp of them. Jacob is so thrilled, he names the place instantly Mahanaim. That’s basically two camps. That word means two camps, there’s two camps. This is the place of two camps. Jacob sees his camp, there are his wives, his children, the flocks and the herds and the servants, and that’s his camp. And there’s a camp right with them, right next to them, of angels, the angels of God Almighty.

If you had angels camping right next to your tents, do you think you’d be afraid of anything? Bring on the nuclear weapons, angels will just knock them out of the way, come on! And he’s thrilled, he calls it two camps. He sees his own camp, and he sees the camp of the angels of the Lord. God let him see that. God didn’t have to. God said, "Look, trust me, dude." I’m paraphrasing. "I’ll protect you." Here’s what God said. He’s showing Jacob that He will keep His promises. "I will be with you," He said. "I will protect you." He’s right here, He said, "Look, the angels, those are my angels, angels of the Lord, they’re right there." And he calls it, "This is cool! The place of two camps, Mahanaim."

That should have been enough right there, wouldn’t you think? Of course not. You’re a Christian. And no matter how much God shows you the grace, no matter how much He brings you through, but now there’s this: "I don’t think I can do it, I don’t think I can hold on. Lord, I’m falling apart, I’m cracking." And God is so patient and so good. See, Jacob still has a whole lot more to learn about faith and about trust in the Lord. Do you know why I know you do too? Because you’re still alive. God is teaching you right now.

There’s a time when we’re going to go home. We could all go together, but we’re certainly going to go, one at a time or separately, whichever you prefer, or all together. We’re going to go home. Till then, notice how God continues to give you little graces, little blessings to show you that He’s right there. He continues to show. But what He wants us to learn is you trust Him, even when you can’t feel, even when you can’t see, even when you do not understand. Trust Him, because He already promised you.

Jacob has got a lot to learn. Look at verse 3: Jacob sent messengers ahead to Esau. The King James says he sent messengers before him, in other words, he sent them on out ahead to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the country of Edom. And he commanded them, verse 4, he commanded them, "Thus shall you speak to my lord Esau." It was his brother, and Esau was a jerk back then, but now he’s afraid of him and he wants to be nice. So he calls him "my lord."

Watch out when people start to flatter you. Watch out when they say, "You’re really beautiful," when you know you’re ugly. You start thinking, "Wait a minute here, wait a minute." The Bible tells us you stay away from flattering lips. Stay away from that. And you’ve heard me say it: when someone slaps you on the back, they’re expecting you to cough something up. You watch out, you love them, but you be careful. Well, listen: speak this is the way I want you to say to my lord Esau: "Thy servant Jacob saith thus: I have traveled with Laban and stayed there until now."

Verse 5: "And I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and men servants and women servants. And I have sent to tell my lord, so that I may find favor, grace, in your sight." He’s just kind of buttering his brother up, if his brother is completely stupid, he’ll fall for it. But Esau’s not a dummy. I don’t think this works this way. And the messengers returned to Jacob, I love this, this makes me laugh, and I shouldn’t because I’d be scared. And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and also he’s coming to meet with you." This is what I’d be asking, and so get the picture.

We did what you told us, we found Esau. What he say? Well, he didn’t say anything. He’s on his way now with 400 men. And I’d be going, "Okay, tell me, what was the look on his face when you said it?" Give me some clues here! 400. What are you, if you’re coming to say hello and want to bring me flowers, 400 men don’t need to come with you. Now get this, Christian, because you do this. You start making up something that you don’t know based on one little bit of information. He’s coming with 400 men. Is it just to see if I’m okay? Probably not, he was mad at me before, he’s probably going to kill me, and we can’t stand up against 400 men.

And they’re riding hard, and they’re coming now, and you see how you make it up? Pretty soon they’ll have weapons in their hands before you even see them, they’ve got weapons and they’re going to sneak up around us. You know what we’d better do? We’d better dig a hole! And you start doing the weirdest things because you just made every bit of that up in your head. All they said was, and I’ll read it to you, verse 6: "We came to your brother Esau, and also he’s coming to meet you with 400 men with him." And Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. Would you be? Yes.

Unless you just calmly said, "Lord, I know You promised. You just showed me the angels. We’re protected. Lord, just calm if Esau’s heart is upset, calm his heart, Lord. I really want to make up, we really want to do this right." But no, Jacob is greatly afraid and distressed. And he divided the people that were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands, and said, "If Esau come to one company and smite it and they kill while he’s killing them, then the other company can run away. We’ll just divide ourselves in half and half of us will make it. I’ll be sure I’m in the half that makes it, of course." But that’s what we’ll do.

How sad. He sends messengers ahead to the land, in the land of Seir, to Edom, to his brother. This message is a message of peace and a little bit of flattery here, informing Esau that he’s headed back to the land of Canaan. The message also asks for grace from his brother. Peace, just want to let you know. When the messengers return, they say, "We delivered the message to Esau." What was his response? "He’s riding out right now with 400 men." To Jacob, that’s an army.

I don’t want to ruin the story for you, but he’s barking up the wrong tree, metaphorically speaking. It’s not coming out as an army. They’re coming out to protect him on his journey for a part of the way. I ruined it for you, didn’t I? And Jacob doesn’t know it either, don’t tell him. He’s got to learn the hard way, just like I do and you do. He’s already knowing we’re going to have a battle, we’re in trouble deep, so I’ve got to split them all up. He can’t take them both at the same time and whatever half he takes, the other half gets away. So some of us may live.

Sounds like an army to Jacob. And you know what he thinks immediately? "Uh-oh, Esau’s still mad. That loser, he’s still mad." So thinking about the vision God gave him, the two camps, angels and his own camp, he’s thinking about these and so what he does is he decides: "Two camps, that’s it. Let’s split into two camps. That way once they attack, they attack the one, this one will get away. They attack this one, that one will get away. Some of us may make it out alive. I’ve got a plan, Lord." If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

So verse 9, Jacob prayed. Now this is the right thing to do. The right thing to do. And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham." Now listen closely to this prayer, it teaches us a ton of things. "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the Lord which said to me, You told me, this is what You told me to do: return to your country, to your family, your kindred, and I will deal well with you." Lord, he’s reminding God of God’s promises. I hope you do that when you pray. You pray the Bible, don’t you?

Lord, You said that You would never leave me and never forsake me. I’m feeling that I’m forsaken, but I’m taking it at Your word that You’re not. But that’s what You told me. Don’t you do that to God? You read, you like pray His Word. That’s what he’s doing. "O God of my father Abraham, O God of my father Isaac, the Lord, You’re the Lord which said to me return home. The reason I’m going home is You told me to and I’m doing it. And to thy go to thy kindred and I will deal well with you." And he says humbly, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have showed to Your servant."

I like it, as you’re praying, you go humbly to God. "I need your help, and I don’t deserve your help. It’s not like I’ve earned it or anything like that, Lord. I’m not worthy of all of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which you have shown to your servant. For with my staff I passed over the Jordan, and now I have become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau," verse 11, "for I fear him. I’m afraid, Lord, lest he will come smite me and the mother with the children. He’ll kill my wives and my children. Don’t let him do that, God, save us."

"And You said, God," verse 12, "You said, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude." He reminds God of God’s promises. You think God forgot them? No, God’s been reminding Jacob of His promises. But isn’t it good when you pray to say, "Lord, this is what you said. You said that I’m saved by grace through faith, and I trust, but Lord I’m falling apart here and it’s just not working and I’m in the hole here and I don’t know how to get out and Lord I need you. And you promised that you would do these things and I don’t deserve it and I’m humbly crying out to you: save me, Lord."

So he’s doing it the right way. See, the wisest thing that Jacob could do is exactly what he just did. The wisest thing that you could do and I can do in every circumstance is pray. Exactly what he should do. He prayed to God, he prayed for God’s deliverance for his whole family, for his whole group, he’s wanting to save the animals, he just wants all of this, "Lord, can you protect us? Would you please?" Notice the prayer though: he is sincere.

We pray, and you catch people praying, "Lord bless the food as it was whatever, amen." I don’t know if he knew what you said, but I don’t know what I said. But when you’re in trouble, real trouble, you slow way down and make sure He understands good English, don’t you? "Lord, I’m scared, I don’t even know what to pray. Lord, I don’t deserve help, I got myself in this and I’m embarrassed to ask you to get me out, but could you get me?" Right, now it’s serious prayer. Not just this or that or the other.

Notice, very sincere, he’s in complete and total surrender to the Lord for guidance and protection. He’s asking, "I can do nothing. Please help me." And he prays the Word of God: "You promised, You said." Look at the times he just, "You promised, You told me to do this, You said," and he’s just, he’s not saying "Have you forgotten?", he’s just saying "I heard you, I remember, and Lord I’m listening." He humbles himself and confesses that he’s unworthy of God’s kindness or God’s faithfulness and the material blessings. "And all these things You gave them to me, I never dreamed about this stuff, but You did it, Lord."

One of the old pastors said it this way: our greatest prayers come from our greatest needs. If you’re saying, "Well so-and-so is hurting, Lord, please help him, she’s struggling, help her," but you notice when you’re very struggling or sick, you’re saying, "Lord, the one you love is sick. Help me, Lord, I can’t do this, I’m falling down, I’m falling apart." You know your prayers, our greatest prayers come from our greatest needs.

And God will allow all of us to get into a predicament where we are thinking we’ll never come through this, "Lord, you got to help me," and He’s got your full attention now, doesn’t He? You’ve been there, haven’t you? If you haven’t, hang on, you will. Our greatest prayers come from our greatest needs. Jeremiah 29:13, we’ve been studying through Jeremiah, what a great book, listen to this, 29:13: "And you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with your whole heart." You get serious with me, and God says, "I am right there."

But if it’s just, "Don’t forget we need rent money, Lord, don’t forget my shoes hurt because my feet are too tight or my feet hurt because my shoes" or whatever, we’re just rambling on, and all of a sudden it becomes real. Hebrews 11:6: "Without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to God, or he or she who comes to God must believe that he exists, that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." It’s serious, it’s real at some points in our lives. It’s real right here with Jacob. He just saw the deliverance, yet his faith is failing once again.

It’s shaky once again. He’s got to learn. We go through and we go through and you go through and you go through and we’re learning how to really trust in the Lord with all our heart and leaning not unto our own understanding. We’re learning that it matters. So look at verse 13. And Jacob, after he prayed, he lodged there that same night and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother. He says, "I’m going to send more guys out. He’s coming on with 400 men, but I’m going to send gifts his way."

You and I have that tendency as well. You’re trying to bribe somebody, trying to get back on their good side, trying to make sure because you’ve done something crazy or whatever and you’re trying to get back and so you start, "Well you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. And you know what else? You’re really smart too. I didn’t notice before, you’re very, very smart." What are you doing? Flattery. Stay away from flattering lips, watch out for those, he says.

He lodged there that same night, but he took of which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother: 200 she-goats. What? 200! Where do you put all those things? 200 she-goats, 20 he-goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milk camels with their colts, with the babies, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 donkeys, and 10 foals of donkeys. That’s a gift! That’s a herd! I mean it’s a huge amount of animals. And he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves.

And said to his servants, "Pass over before me and get a good space between each other, between drove and drove, sections of herd and section of herd. Get the cattle out there, get the donkeys," set them up separate. And he commanded the foremost, the one in front, saying, "When Esau my brother meets you, because he’s coming, that’s what you told me, he’s on the way. When he gets to you and he asks you, who are you? And where are you going? And whose are these before you? Who do these animals belong to?"

"You shall say, they be thy servant Jacob’s. It is a present sent to you, my lord Esau. And behold, also he’s behind us. He’s back there, he’s coming. He just sent these gifts on ahead." And so commanded he the second and the third and all that followed the drove, saying, "Every one of you speak the same thing. Who are you? Where are you coming from? Who are these? They belong to your servant Jacob, it’s a present for you, he’s coming." Next group comes up. "What’s this? Well, it’s from your servant Jacob. These are all for you and he’s right behind us here, coming up."

"And say ye moreover, or on top of that say, behold your servant Jacob is behind us." For he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Peradventure, he will accept me. I hope maybe I can just bribe him into liking me again, or at least not killing me and the kids." I know you’ve never done anything like that, but some people do. A little flattery, a little gift, a lot of people do that. I’ve seen husbands and wives fight so they’ll bring each other nice little things. That’s supposed to pay for what?

After praying, Jacob, you would think, after praying, after knowing Mahanaim, two camps, after seeing the angels of God with his own eyes, what you would think, just like you would think of all me and you, all of us Christians, you would think Jacob’s faith was stronger. He saw that! You see what God does. How strong is your faith? It’s gone instantly, isn’t it? "Well we’re going to lose our home. Well it looks like this is it for the country. Well here we go, we’re all going to die."

You would think it would have strengthened his faith. And so he just said, "Let’s go, let’s just go and meet him and the 400 men. Let’s just do this. Lord, go with me. You go ahead. Let your angels be out front there and we’ll go. I’m just going to trust You." Mm-mm. His faith is too weak. It should have been stronger, it should have strengthened his faith, but he was still afraid. Aren’t we that way?

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9 and 11 a.m. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. and a Monday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. You can download today’s message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. That’s NorthCountryChapel.com/studies.

If you would like a copy of today’s message, write to us and ask for the message with today’s date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho, 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the live stream of our services, or to find out more about church events.

If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse-by-verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel.