Jacob wrestles with God (Genesis 32) – Rev. Andrew Goddard

Point one on our outline here, Jacob prepares to meet Esau.

You might be someone who writes Christmas letters.

You might be someone who receives Christmas letters.

The years that I've tried to do it, it's hard work trying to fit everything that has happened in the last 12 months into just a couple of pages.

But imagine if instead it was 20 years.

That's how much time has passed between Jacob and his brother Esau, and they didn't exactly leave their relationship on good terms.

Last time they were in each other's presence, Esau wanted to kill Jacob.

So, will Jacob survive this encounter? To boost his chances, he tries to placate his brother, doesn't he? He sends messages in the first few verses, verse 3 to 5, filling Esau in on what has been happening for the last 20 years, quite a lot.

He doesn't, though, get the response he's looking for, does he? Esau is coming to meet him, but as we read in verse 6, 400 men are with him.

Now, obviously, Esau has enjoyed some success himself, hasn't he? Maybe he's also a bit wary of Jacob and his intentions, hence the 400 men.

But Jacob doesn't know.

How is this meeting going to take place? And so, in verse 7, we read, in great fear and distress, Jacob divides his people with him into two groups.

He is desperate.

He does what he can, but it is an act of desperation, isn't it? All his people, all his belongings into two groups, assuming that, well, if one of them is attacked and presumably killed, at least the other group will survive.

He is desperate.

So what is he going to do? He prays.

This is part of the passage here in Genesis 32 that we didn't read out before.

But it is still important because in verses 9 to 12, we have one of the earliest, one of the longest prayers in this part of the Bible.

There hasn't been a longer prayer up until this point.

Jacob is finally resorting to prayer.

Here he begins by referring to his roots.

In verse 9, he says, O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac.

Now God knows who he is.

He doesn't need reminding.

But I'm sure Jacob does.