Damage Control

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Opening Prayer

Lord, my God, how great You are! You order the beginning, the present, and the future of all things.

Read Genesis 32:1-21

^[1] Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ^[2] When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim. ^[3] Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ^[4] He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. ^[5] I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'” ^[6] 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.” ^[7] 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. ^[8] He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.” ^[9] Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ ^[10] 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 camps. ^[11] 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. ^[12] 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.'” ^[13] He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: ^[14] two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ^[15] thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ^[16] 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.” ^[17] He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ ^[18] 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.'” ^[19] 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. ^[20] 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.” ^[21] So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). We need to keep that in mind always!

Think Further

I heard recently of a man who made elaborate preparations for a marriage proposal involving a multi-course meal with the request appearing between each course on the menu. (She accepted!) Jacob’s elaborate preparations to meet the brother he had swindled out of birthright and blessing went in a similar way but had a different motivation. The size of the gift indicated just how wealthy Jacob had become. Because he misinterpreted what his messengers reported back (6), Jacob assumed his brother was coming in anger to exact the retribution he deserved, rather than the reconciliation he desired. No doubt he hoped that repeated gifts and messages would soften Esau’s heart, calm him down and make Jacob acceptable to him once more. His motivation was one of “great fear and distress” for himself and his large, extended family (7). Having first put a divide-and-conquer strategy in motion, however, he turned to God and prayed with humility and with a recognition that his success was God’s doing; then he asked for God’s protection. He put his plea for safety from Esau’s expected violence in the center of his prayer, surrounded by reminders of God’s promises to him (9-12).

Jacob could be accused of hedging his bets and, by the generosity of his gifts, showing a lack of faith in God, but “Scripture approves of strategy when it is a tool rather than a substitute for God” (D. Kidner, referring also to examples from Joshua and Nehemiah). My mother would call this using divine common sense, or as has been said, “Pray as if everything depended on God, work as if everything depended on you.” Perhaps for the first time, Jacob is acting not just out of self-interest but for the good of all with him and their future prospects; his prayers and plans go hand in hand.

Apply

Think about how you approach tricky situations. What comes first–prayer, or action? What changes might need to be made in the future?

Closing prayer

Lord, it is such a fine line knowing how much to do and how much to let You do for me. I pray for discernment as I face every day.

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