Gen 32:9 Then Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who said to me, Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good, (11) Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau... 2 Cor 1:9 Indeed we ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
After making [his] arrangements, Jacob probably was still not at peace. Thus, he did something unusual--he prayed. This is the first record of Jacob's praying in his entire life. (In 28:20-22 it was his vow, not his prayer to God.) During the twenty years Jacob was under the squeezing hand of Laban, there is no record that he prayed. Although Laban changed his wages ten times, Jacob did not pray. In principle, we all are Jacobs. We have received the promise of God and we have come to know God, but still we do not pray. Instead of exercising our spirit to pray, we exercise our mind to consider and our natural strength to face every problem. Jacob did not pray when he was with Laban; instead, he employed his natural strength to manage the situation. But now, being about to face Esau, he was brought to a place where he had no more skill. All his skill, technique, ability, and strength had been exhausted. When he learned that Esau was coming with four hundred men, he was frightened. The most he could do was divide his people into two groups, thinking that if the first were sacrificed, the second might be spared. Because this was the best Jacob could do, he was forced to pray.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Genesis, 1987, pp. 951. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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