Genesis 32:9-21 – Praying is needful but we also need to act

Jacob was really terrified. He needn’t be but he did. Feeling that his past had caught up with him, he went into prayer. The fact that he prayed tells us that he had grown spiritually. God is the best person to turn to in our hour of needs, be they real or imagined. So that’s what Jacob did. What he said to God gives us hints on how we also should approach God. He began by calling upon God, the same God that Abraham and Isaac worshiped and served, the one who had instructed him to return and promised to prosper him. He said it in his opening invocation but also in his closing petition. Jacob was essentially reminding God of the promise He had made to him. In this prayer we can also detect his humility. Jacob recognized that all that he had were given by the grace of God, so he acknowledged the faithfulness of God. Instead of apportioning blame and asking why did God allow him to suffer such torment, his mind gravitated toward God’s past faithfulness and gratefully acknowledged it. He also remembered that he had nothing when he crossed the river but now he was a prosperous man, owning many goats, sheep, camels, and servants. He even honesty told God his fear of the harm that Esau would inflict upon him, his wives and children, and humbly requested to be delivered from the hand of his brother.

Jacob did not just sit idly by after prayer and did nothing. While he trusted God, he also thought of ways to pacify his brother. However, we must note that it was not the measures that he took that had Esau pacified. The change took place because of the prayer. For the prayer of a righteous man is effective. Verses 13-15 tell us what he did. He assembled together 550 or more worth of animals, 200 female and 20 male goats; 200 ewes and 20 rams; 30 camels and their calves and 20 female and 10 male donkeys. He arranged them into five groups and had each group separated from the other by a certain distance. Each group was accompanied by a messenger who was instructed what to say when they met Esau. Each was told to say, “These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.” 

Jacob had arranged his gifts to Esau in such a way to give him time to appreciate his gifts. It was designed to make maximum impact on him. He thought to himself that his brother would be appeased after seeing the five groups of animals. Jacob even imagined Esau to be pleased and become more accomodative toward him. Verse 21 tells us that he remained behind to spend the night in the camp. Although we are not told what he did that night, we can imagine that he continued in prayer. Jacob’s generous gifts to his brother tell us that he was prepared to pay the price to bring reconciliation. Wealth was secondary in comparison to a peaceful relationship with someone he had offended. He wanted to mend the relationship at all cost. He did what he could but we must learn from him that prayer is still paramount.  Prayer and action must go hand in hand. After praying there must still be action.