RPG Adults
AFTER SUPPLICATION – ACTION!
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8
Genesis 32:13-23
Psalm 10:1-9
Wisdom is better than strength.
AFTER SUPPLICATION – ACTION!
While prayer is essential and indispensable, yet there are times when timely action on man’s part is also very necessary. Jacob prayed hard, committing the matter to God. After that he thought hard, and then worked hard! Is there not anything that could be done to win Esau’s favour beyond the use of diplomatic language? Surely the giving of a proper gift as a gesture of goodwill would help. Jacob made a quick “on the spot” decision.
“I shall send ahead by the hands of messengers, valuable presents from among my flocks, 580 heads in all. These will move forward in droves, each drove in the charge of a servant. Each servant on meeting Esau will announce that the animals are a gift from Jacob the servant to his lord Esau.” Thus, he sent the servants on their mission of appeasement.
In this act of Jacob’s, we see God’s wisdom. Some other men might have clung on to their wealth, grudging to part with valuable animals. Not Jacob. After all, he had nothing to begin with. If Esau’s men should descend on them with the sword, all of them would perish, both men and beasts. Furthermore, where there is life, there is hope. The most important consideration at that particular time was to preserve life. Whatever was given away as gifts could always be recovered.
Jacob was right. Whatever the cost, he had to seek peace and reconciliation. To save a few animals might mean total loss!
It was crisis after crisis. All the camp had passed over the ford Jabbok. Jacob’s wives and children included. The animals of appeasement had proceeded ahead in their strategic arrangements. Jacob had done all that could have been done, humanly speaking. Perhaps he thought that with his scheming and clever deployment, things would turn out well, and his entry to the Promised Land opened. This was reasoning and planning at the level of nature.
THOUGHT: He who will save his life shall lose it.
PRAYER: Help me to pray and help me to act, O Father, in accordance with Thy bidding.