Genesis 32:1-12 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Genesis 32:1-12. Let’s go!
Genesis 32:1-12 (NIV)
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.
On verses 1-2: As Jacob continues his journey back to his homeland, he is met by angels, although we are given no details of what those angels looked like or what the angels did or said. He calls the place “Mahanaim”, which means two camps, which is perhaps a reference to the fact that Jacob’s camp was now met by what Jacob described as “the camp of God”.
What can we learn from this?
First, when you move forward in faith trusting in the Lord, you’ll find that you move as two camps. There’s the visible camp consisting of you and the people you are with, but there’s also the invisible camp consisting of the Holy Spirit and God’s angels whom God sends to be with you. Blessed are those who recognize that wherever they go there are two camps (2 Kings 6:16-17).
Second, you might say, “I wish God would speak to me the way He did to Jacob and send angels to show me which way to go.” Keep this in mind: Jacob saw the angels after he had already made the decision to go forward in faith. Many people wait for God to give them a sign before they do anything. The lack of a sign then becomes their excuse for not moving forward. That is lazy, Hollywood spirituality. If you always need God to show you a sign before you go forward in faith, you won’t grow at all. You’ll remain a baby believer. For signs often follow those who go in faith, rather than preceding them. In other words, rather than always waiting for a sign before you go forward in faith, go forward in faith and believe that the signs will follow you.
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 master 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, menservants and maidservants. 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, O LORD, 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 groups.
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.'”
On verses 3-12: Jacob sends messengers to go ahead of him into the land of Seir where Esau apparently resides and to make contact with Esau. When Jacob learns the Esau is coming to meet him and 400 hundred men are with him, Jacob is afraid and distressed. He divides the people into two groups so that at least one group can escape in the event of an attack. He prays for God’s help and protection. He also recounts the promise God had spoken to him previously that God would make him prosper and make his descendants like the sand of the sea, uncountable.
What can we learn from this? When you are stressed and afraid, be alert and resourceful, but even more, hang onto God’s promises. The fact that Jacob could recall God’s promise in a stressful time shows that Jacob had stored God’s promise in his heart. Likewise, one of the best ways you can fight fear and stress is to store God’s promises in your heart. That includes both the rhema word that God speaks directly into your heart, as well as God’s promises in Scripture. In Thrive Discipleship School Level 2, we talk about the importance of memorizing Scripture and give you a list of worthwhile verses to memorize. Store up God’s Word in your heart so that you can use it as your weapon against fear, stress and temptation in the future.
Holy Spirit, thank You for showing me today the comfort that comes from Your presence and from Your Word. Thank You that wherever I go, You go with me and together we go as two camps, the visible and the invisible. Thank You also for the Word of God spoken to my heart and written out for me in Scripture so that I have a weapon against fear. May every person reading this GAME sharing make storing God’s Word in their heart their priority. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
