Hold On to the Promises

"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 relatives, and I will prosper you," I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For You said, "I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered."'" -Genesis 32.9-12

The moment that Jacob has dreading, probably for the last twenty years, is now at hand. He has sent servants ahead as messengers with gifts, and they have returned with the news that Esau is on his way with four hundred men. Immediately Jacob goes into survival mode. He splits everything he has into two groups hoping that, worst case scenario, one of the groups will survive.

But then Jacob does something, he prays. He calls on the name of God, and recalls the things that God has said to him in the past, when he first came this way. Then he had nothing but his walking stick, and now he has so much that he is able to divide them into two companies. He acknowledges all that God has done for him up to this point. And now he prays, reminding himself of the promise God still has to fulfill.

Men, what do we hold on to in life? Do we cling to the promises of God more desperately than anything else? Jacob does it right here. He looks first at all that God has done for him. He remembers what God did in the past, and now sees how it has been fulfilled. He sees God's faithfulness to his words, and believes God will fulfill all that He has promised. He is clinging to God's promise as his only hope for survival.

What are you clinging to? What promises has God made? Which ones has He already fulfilled? Have you praised Him for them? What is still left to accomplish? Are you clinging to those with eager expectation? God doesn't forget what He said. Jacob isn't saying these things to remind God, he's saying them to remind himself.

Men, let's constantly remember what God has said. Let's celebrate the things He has already fulfilled. And let us hold on to the promises that we're still waiting for.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor