Genesis 32:9-12 ( ESV )
9And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father
Isaac, O Lord who said to me,
‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’
10I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love
and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my
staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of
Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the
children.
12But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring
as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”
OBSERVATIONS:
1.
In his prayer he reflected about how God had
kept his promises to Abraham and Isaac and how he wanted him to come back to
the land of promise. While we pray once again let us remember that if God has
allowed us to be in our present circumstances he will guide us through them
with his kindness.
2.
It is always good in our prayer lives to
remember the mercies and faithfulness of God that he has shown us. We should
also remember that is because of his strength alone that we can go through any
of our trials. Remember to pray for His strength to carry us through. Ephesians
6:10 Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Jacob now relies upon this God and His strength as he knows that God would do
him good and make his offspring as the sand of the sea.
3.
Like Jacob when we become fearful let us not be
ashamed to pray that God will deliver us. In the ESV version the word deliver
is used around 157 times. Jacob uses that word for the first time here in this
verse.
Here are some more examples of prayers for deliverance.
a.
David when confronting Goliath in I Sam 17:37
tells how the Lord delivered him from the paw of a lion and paw of the bear and
just two verses later tells Goliath how he will be delivered into his hand.
b.
Israel when it would fear the Lord was promised
that God would deliver them in II Kings 17:39 Yet in verse 40 we are told that
they did not.
c.
Job would pray deliver me from my adversaries
hand in Job 6:23
d.
David Ps. 7:1 “In you do I take refuge, save me
from all my pursuers and deliver me. Ps. 39:8 Deliver me from all my
transgressions.
e.
Deliverance from our sins. Ps. 79:9
f.
Matthew 6:13 The Disciple’s prayer Deliver us from
evil.
Jacob will now spend one of his most sleepless nights as he
will now wrestle with God all night long in prayer. Genesis 32:24-31.
No comments:
Post a Comment