Part 36
had gone, Jacob found himself in the presence of angels! Here is a
picture of a very different kind–the churl has gone and the cherubs
have come–the greedy taskmaster has turned his back and the
happy messengers of the blessed God have come to welcome the
Patriarch on his return from exile! It is hard to realize, to the full,
the complete transformation. Such changes occur in all lives but, I
think, most of all in the lives of Believers. Few passages across the
ocean of life are quite free from storm, but the redeemed of the
Lord may reckon upon being tossed with tempest even if others
escape. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." Yet trials last
not forever–clear shining comes after rain.
Change always works. We pass from storm to calm, from breeze
to hurricane–we coast the shores of peace and then we are driven
upon the sandbanks of fear. Nor need we be surprised, for were
there not great changes in the life of our Lord and Master? Is not
His life as full of hills and valleys as ours possibly can be? We read
of His being baptized in Jordan and then and there visited by the
Spirit who descended upon Him like a dove–then was His hour of
rest. Who can tell the restfulness of Jesus' spirit when the Father
bore witness concerning Him, "This is My beloved Son"? But, we
read directly afterwards, "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." From the descent of the
Holy Spirit to dire conflict with the devil is a change, indeed!
But another change followed it, for when that battle had been
fought out and the triple temptation had been tried upon our Lord
in vain, we read again, "Then the devil left Him and behold, angels
came and ministered unto Him." In a short space our Lord's
surroundings had changed from heavenly to diabolical and again
from satanic to angelic. From Heaven to the manger, from walking
the sea to hanging on the Cross, from the sepulcher to the Throne–
what changes are these! Can we expect to build three tabernacles
and tarry in the mountain when our Lord was thus tossed to and
fro?
Beloved, you will certainly find that the world is established upon
the floods and is therefore ever moving. Never come and go and go
and come–and you and I, so far as we have to live in this poor
whirling world, must be removed to and fro as a shepherd's tent
and find no city to dwell in. If this happen not to our habitations it
will certainly happen in our feelings. From of old "the evening and
the morning were the first day" and, "the evening and the morning
were the second day." The alternation of shade and sunshine, of
setting and rising are from the beginning. Dawn, noon, afternoon,
evening, darkness, midnight and a new morning follow each other
in all things. So must it be–there is a need for clouds and showers
and morning glories, "until the day break and the shadows flee
away," when we shall be fitted to bask in the beams of everlasting
noon.
In the case before us we see Jacob in the best of company. Jacob,
not cheated in Mesopotamia, but honored in Mahanaim. Jacob, not
trying to outwit Laban, but gazing upon celestial spirits. He was
surrounded by angels and he knew it. His eyes were open so that he
saw spirits who, in their own nature, are invisible to human eyes.
He became a Seer and was enabled by the inward eye to behold the
hosts of shining ones whom God had sent to meet him. It is a great
privilege to be able to know our friends and to discern the hosts of
God. We are very apt, indeed, to realize our difficulties and to
forget our helps. Our allies are all around us, yet we think ourselves
alone. The opposition of Satan is more easily recognized than the
succor of the Lord. Oh to have eyes and hearts opened to see how
strong the Lord is on our behalf!
Jacob had just been delivered from Laban, but he was oppressed
by another load–the dread of Esau was upon him. He had wronged
his brother and you cannot do a wrong without being haunted by it
afterwards. He had taken ungenerous advantage of Esau and now,
many, many years after it, his deed came home to him and his
conscience made him afraid. Notwithstanding that he had lived
with Laban so long, his conscience was sufficiently vigorous to
make him tremble because he had put himself into a wrong position
with his brother. Had it not been for this, he would have marched
on to his father, Isaac's, tent with joyful feet!
Dreading his brother's anger, he was greatly distressed and
troubled. These angels came to bring him cheer by helping him to
forget the difficulties round about him, or lose his dread of them by
looking up and seeing what defense and succor awaited him from
on high. He had but to cry to God and Esau's 400 men would be
met by legions of angels! Was not this good cheer? Have not all
Believers the same? Greater is He that is for us than all they that
are against us! If, this morning, I shall be enabled by the Holy
Spirit to uplift the minds of the Lord's tried people from their
visible griefs to their invisible comforts I shall be glad. I beg them
not to think exclusively of the burden they have to carry, but to
remember the strength which is available for the carrying of it.
If I shall cause the timorous heart to cease its dread and to trust in
the living God who has promised to bear His servants through, I
shall have accomplished my desire. The Lord of Hosts is with us,
the God of Jacob is our refuge and therefore no weapon that is
formed against us shall prosper and even the arch-enemy himself
shall be bruised under our feet. In treating of Jacob's experience at
Mahanaim we will make a series of observations. First, God has a
multitude of servants and all these are on the side of Believers.
"His camp is very great," and all the hosts in that camp are our
allies. Some of these are visible agents and many more are
invisible, but, none the less, real and powerful. The great army of
the Lord of Hosts consists largely of unseen agents–of forces that
are not discernible except in vision or by the eyes of faith.
Jacob saw two squadrons of these invisible forces which are on
the side of righteous men. "The angels of God met him," and he
said, "This is God's host: and he called the name of that place
Mahanaim," (two camps), for there a double army of angels met
him. We know that a guard of angels always surrounds every
Believer. Ministering spirits are abroad, protecting the princes of
the blood royal. They cannot be discerned by any of our senses, but
they are perceptible by faith and they have been made perceptible
to holy men of old in visions. These bands of angels are great in
multitude, for Jacob said, "This is God's host"–a host means a
considerable number and surely the host of God is not a small one.
"The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of
angels." We do not know what legions wait upon the Lord, only we
read of "an innumerable company of angels." We look abroad in
the world and calculate the number of persons and forces friendly
to our Christian warfare, but these are only what our poor optics
can discover–the half cannot be told us by such means. It may be
that every star is a world, thronged with the servants of God who
are willing and ready to dart like flames of fire upon Jehovah's
errands of love.
If the Lord's chosen could not be sufficiently protected by the
forces available in one world, He has but to speak or will and
myriads of spirits from the far-off regions of space would come
thronging forward to guard the children of their King. As the stars
of the sky, countless in their armies, are the invisible warriors of
God. "His camp is very great." "Omnipotence has servants
everywhere." These servants of the strong God are all filled with
power–there is not one that faints among them all–they run like
mighty men, they prevail as men of war. A host is made up of
valiant men, veterans, troopers, heroes, men fit for conflict. God's
forces are exceedingly strong–nothing can stand against them.
Whatever form they take, they are always potent, even when God's
host is made up of grasshoppers, cankerworms and palmerworms,
as in the Book of Joel, none can resist them and nothing can escape
them.
They devoured everything! They covered the earth and even
darkened the sun and moon. If such is the case with insects, what
must be the power of angels? We know that they "excel in
strength," as they "do His commandments, hearkening unto the
voice of His Word." Rejoice, O children of God! There are vast
armies upon your side and each one of the warriors is clothed with
the strength of God! All these agents work in order, for it is God's
host and the host is made up of beings which march or fly
according to the order of command. "Neither shall one thrust
another; they shall walk every one in his path." All the forces of
Nature are loyal to their Lord. None of these mighty forces dreams
of rebellion! From the blazing comet which flames in the face of
the universe to the tiniest fragment of shell which lies hidden in the
deepest ocean cave–all matter yields itself to the supreme Law
which God has settled.
Nor do unfallen intelligent agents mutiny against Divine decrees,
but find their joy in rendering loving homage to their God. They
are perfectly happy, because consecrated. They are full of delight,
because completely absorbed in doing the will of the Most High.
Oh that we could do His will on earth as that will is done in Heaven
by all the heavenly ones! Observe that in this great host they were
all punctual to the Divine command. Jacob went on his way and the
angels of God met him. The Patriarch is no sooner astir than the
hosts of God are on the wing. They did not linger till Jacob had
crossed the frontier, nor did they keep him waiting when he came
to the appointed rendezvous–they were there to the moment! When
God means to deliver you, Beloved, in the hour of danger, you will
find the appointed force ready for your succor.
God's messengers are neither behind nor before their time. They
will meet us to the inch and to the second in the time of need,
therefore let us proceed without fear, like Jacob, going on our way
even though an Esau with a band of desperadoes should block up
the road. Those forces of God, too, were all engaged personally to
attend upon Jacob. I like to set forth this thought–"Jacob went on
his way and the angels of God met him." He did not chance to fall
in with them. They did not happen to be on the march and so
crossed the Patriarch's track. No, no! He went on his way and the
angels of God met him with design and purpose. They came on
purpose to meet him–they had no other appointment. Squadrons of
angels marched to meet that one lone man! He was a saint, but by
no means a perfect one–we cannot help seeing many flaws in him,
even upon a superficial glance at his life and yet the angels of God
met him.
Perhaps in the early morning, as he rose to tend his flocks, he saw
the skies peopled with shining ones who quite eclipsed the dawn.
The heavens were vivid with descending lusters and the angels
came upon him as a bright cloud, descending, as it were, upon the
Patriarch. They glided downward from those gates of pearl, more
famed than the gates of Thebes. They divided to the right and to the
left and became two hosts. Perhaps the one band pitched their camp
behind, as much as to say, "All is might in the rear, Laban cannot
retain; better than the cairn of Mizpah is the host of God." Another
squadron moved to the front as much as to say, " Peace, Patriarch,
with regard to Esau, the red hunter and his armed men–we guard
you in the van."
It must have been a glorious morning for Jacob when he saw not
one, but many morning stars! If the apparitions were seen in the
dead of night, surely Jacob must have thought that day was come
before its time! It was as if constellations mustered to the roll call
and clouds of stars came floating down from the upper spheres. All
came to wait upon Jacob, on that one man–"The angel of the Lord
encamps round about them that fear Him," but in this case it was to
one man with his family of children that a host was sent. The man,
himself, the lone man who abode in covenant with God when all
the rest of the world was given up to idols, was favored by this
mark of Divine favor. The angels of God met him!
One delights to think that the angels should be willing and even
eager, troops of them, to meet one man! How vain is that voluntary
humility and worshipping of angels which Paul so strongly
condemns. Worshipping them seems far out of the question–the
fidelity lies rather the other way–for they do us suit and service and
are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that
are the heirs of salvation? They serve God's servants. "Unto which
of the angels said He at any time, You are My son?" But this He
has said, first, to the Only-Begotten and then to every Believer in
Christ! We are the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty
and these ministering ones have a charge concerning us! As it is
written, "they shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your
foot against a stone."
I have shown you that Believers are compassed about with an
innumerable company of angels, great in multitude, strong in
power, exact in order, punctual in their personal attention to the
children of God. Are you not well cared for, oh you sons of the
Most High? Those forces, though in themselves invisible to the
natural senses, are manifest to faith at certain times. There are
times when the child of God is able to cry, like Jacob, "The angels
of God have met me." When do such seasons occur? Our
Mahanaims occur at much the same time as that in which Jacob
beheld this great sight. Jacob was entering upon a more separated
life. He was leaving Laban and the school of all those tricks of
bargaining and bartering which belong to the ungodly world.
He had breathed too long an unhealthy atmosphere. He was
degenerating–the heir of the promises was becoming a man of the
world. He was entangled with earthly things. His marriages held
him fast and every year he seemed to get more and more rooted to
Laban's land. It was time he was transplanted to better soil. Now he
is coming right away. He has taken to tent life. He has come to
sojourn in the land of promise, as his fathers had done before him.
He was now to confess that he was seeking a city and meant to be a
pilgrim till he found it. By a desperate stroke he cut himself clear
of entanglements, but he must have felt lonely and as one cast
adrift. He missed all the associations of the old house of
Mesopotamia, which, despite its annoyances, was his home.
The angels come to congratulate him. Their presence said, "You
are come to this land to be stranger and sojourner with God, as all
your fathers were. We have, some of us, talked with Abraham,
again and again and we are now coming to smile on you. You
remember how we bade you goodbye that night, when you had a
stone for your pillow at Bethel? Now you have come back to the
reserved inheritance over which we are set as guardians and we
have come to salute you. Take up the non-conforming life without
fear, for we are with you. Welcome! Welcome! We are glad to
receive you under our special care."
Then was it true to Jacob, "Verily I say unto you, there is no man
that has left house, or brother, or sister, or father, or mother, or
wife, or children, or lands for My sake, but he shall receive an
hundred-fold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and
mothers and children and lands, with persecutions and in the world
to come eternal life." This brotherhood of angels must have been an
admirable compensation for the loss of the fatherhood of that
churlish Laban! Anything we lose when we leave the world and
what is called, "society," is abundantly made up when we can say,
"We have come unto the Church of the firstborn, whose names are
written in Heaven and unto an innumerable company of angels."
Again, the reason why the angels met Jacob at that time was,
doubtless, because he was surrounded with great cares. He had a
large family of little children and great flocks and herds and many
servants were with him. He said, himself, "With my staff I crossed
this Jordan and now I am become two bands." This was a huge
burden of care! It was no light thing for one man to have the
management of all that mass of life and to lead it about in
wandering style. But look! There are two companies of angels to
balance the two companies of feeble ones. If he has two bands to
take care of, he shall have two bands to take care of him. If he has
double responsibility, he shall have double assistance.
So, Brothers and Sisters, when you are in positions of great
responsibility and you feel the weight pressing upon you, have
hope in God that you will have double succor and be sure that you
pray that Mahanaim may be repeated in your experience so that
your strength may be equal to your day. Again, the Lord's host
appeared when Jacob felt a great dread. His brother Esau was
coming to meet him armed to the teeth and, as he feared, thirsty for
his blood. In times when our danger is greatest, if we are real
Believers, we shall be specially under the Divine protection and we
shall know that it is so. This shall be our comfort in the hour of
distress. What can Esau do with his 400 men, now that the hosts of
God have pitched their tents and have assembled in their squadrons
to watch between us and the foe?
Can you see the horses of fire and chariots of fire around about
the chosen servant of God? Jacob ought to have felt calm and quiet
in heart and I suppose he was when he saw his protectors. Alas, as
soon as he lost sight of them, poor Jacob was depressed in spirit
again about his brother, Esau, lest he should slay the mothers with
the children! Such is the weakness of our hearts! But let us not fall
into the grievous sin of unbelief. Are we not without excuse if we
do so? In times of great distress we may expect that the forces of
God will become recognizable by our faith and we shall have a
clearer sense of the powers on our side than ever we had before! O
Holy Spirit, work in us great clearness of spiritual sight!
And, once again, when you and I, like Jacob, shall be near Jordan,
when we shall just be passing into the better land, then is the time
when we may expect to come to Mahanaim. The angels of God and
the God of angels both come to meet the spirits of the blessed in
the solemn article of death. Have we not, ourselves, heard of
Divine revealings from dying lips? Have we not heard the
testimony so often, too, that it could not have been an invention
and a deception? Have not many loved ones given us assurance of
a glorious revelation which they never saw before? Is there not a
giving of new sight when the eyes are closing? Yes, O heir of
Glory, the shining ones shall come to meet you on the river's brink
and you shall be ushered into the Presence of the Eternal by those
bright courtiers of Heaven who, on either side, shall be a company
of dear companions when the darkness is passing and the Glory is
streaming over you! Be of good cheer! If you see not the hosts of
God now, you shall see them hereafter when the Jordan shall be
reached and you cross over to the promised land.
Thus I have mentioned the time when these invisible forces
become visible to faith and there is no doubt whatever that they are
sent for a purpose. Why were they sent to Jacob at this time?
Perhaps the purpose was first, to revive an ancient memory which
had well-near slipped from him. I am afraid he had almost
forgotten Bethel. Surely it must have brought his vow at Bethel to
mind, the vow which He made unto the Lord when he saw the
ladder and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it.
Here they were! They had left Heaven and come down that they
might hold communion with him. I like the dream at Bethel better
than the vision of Mahanaim for this reason, that he saw the
Covenant God at the top of the ladder–here he only sees the angels.
Yet there is a choice pearl in this latter sight, for whereas at Bethel
he only saw angels ascending and descending, he here sees them on
the earth by his side, ready to protect him from all harm.
How sweetly do new mercies refresh the memory of former
favors and how gently does new Grace remind us of old promises
and debts. Brother, does not your Mahanaim point to some half-
forgotten Bethel? Judge for yourself. Should our glorious God give
you, at this time, a clear view of His Divine power and of His
Covenant faithfulness, I pray that the sight may refresh your
memory concerning that happy day when you first knew the Lord,
when you first gave yourself up to Him and His Grace took
possession of your spirit. Mahanaim was granted to Jacob, not only
to refresh his memory, but to lift him out of the ordinary low level
of his life. Jacob, you know, the father of all the Jews, was great at
huckstering–it was his very nature to drive bargains. Jacob had all
his wits about him and rather more than he should have had, well
answering to his name of "supplanter."
He would let no one deceive him and he was ready at all times to
take advantage of those with whom he had any dealings. Here the
Lord seems to say to him, "O Jacob, My servant, rise out of this
miserable way of dealing with Me and be of a princely mind." Such
should have been the lesson of this angelic visit, though it was ill-
learned. Jacob was prepared to send off to Esau and call him, "My
Lord Esau." He was ready to cringe and bow and call himself his
servant. He went beyond the submissiveness which prudence
suggests into the abject subjection which is born of fear. The vision
should have led Jacob to stand upon higher ground. With bands of
angels as his bodyguard, he had no need to persist in his timorous,
pettifogging policy.
He might have walked along with the dignified confidence of his
grandfather Abraham. There is something better in this life, after
all, than policy and planning–faith in God is far grander! A
coward's scheming never becomes the favorite of Heaven. Why
should he fear who is protected beyond all fear? Esau could not
stand against him, for Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, was on
his side! O for Grace to live according to our true position and
character–not as poor dependents upon our own wits or upon the
help of man–but as grandly independent of things seen because our
entire reliance is fixed upon the unseen and eternal! Jacob as a
mere keeper of sheep has great cause to fear his warlike brother,
but as the chosen of God and possessor of a heavenly guard he may
boldly travel on as if no Esau were in existence!
All things are possible with God. Let us, then, play the man. We
are not dependent on the things that are seen. Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of
God shall man live. Cursed is he that trusts in man. Trust in God
with all your heart. He is your infinite aid. Do right and give up
calculations. Plunge into the sea of faith! Believe as much in the
invisible as in the visible and act upon your faith. This seems to me
to be God's objective in giving to any of His servants a clearer
view of the powers which are engaged on their behalf. If such a
special vision is granted to us, let us keep it in memory.
Jacob called the name of that place Mahanaim. I wish we had
some way in this western world, in these modern times, of naming
places, and children, too, more sensibly. We must either borrow
some antiquated title, as if we were too short of sense to make one
for ourselves, or else our names are sheer nonsense and mean
nothing. Why not choose names which should commemorate our
mercies? Might not our houses be far more full of interest if around
us we saw memorials of the happy events of our lives? Should we
not note down remarkable blessings in our diaries to hand down to
our children? Should we not tell our sons and daughters, "There
God helped your father, Son." "Thus and thus the Lord comforted
your mother, Daughter." "There God was very gracious to our
family."
Keep records of your race! Preserve the household memoranda! I
think it is a great help for a man to know what God did for his
father and his grandfather, for he hopes that their God will also be
his God. Jacob took care to make notes, for he again and again
named places by the facts which there were seen. Jacob named
Bethel and Galeed, and Peniel and Mahanaim and other places, for
he was a great name giver. Nor were his names forgotten, for
hundreds of years after, good King David came to the same spot as
Jacob and found it still known as Mahanaim and there the servants
of God of another kind met him, also!
This brings me to my second text. Angels did not meet David, but
living creatures of another nature met him who answered the
purpose of David quite as well as angels would have done. So just
for a few minutes we will dwell upon that second event which
distinguished Mahanaim. Turn to the Second Book of Samuel, the
17 th verse. Davidcame to Mahanaim and was met there by many
friends. He stood upon the sacred spot accompanied by his handful
of faithful friends, fugitives like he was. There apparently was not
an angel about that day, yet secretly there were thousands flying
around the sorrowing king.
Who is this that comes? It is not an angel but old Barzillai. Who
is this? It is Machir of Lodebar. They bring with them honey, corn,
butter, sheep, great basins by way of baths and cooking utensils and
earthen vessels to hold their food. And look, there are beds, too, for
the poor king has not a couch to lie upon. These are not angels, but
they are doing what angels could not have done, for Gabriel
himself could hardly have brought a bed or a basin! Who is yonder
prominent friend? He speaks like a foreigner! He is an Ammonite!
What is his name? Shobi, the son of Nahash, of Rabbah, of the
children of Ammon. I have heard of those people–they were
enemies were they not–cruel enemies to Israel?
That man, Nahash–you remember his name? This is one of his
sons. Yes! God can turn enemies into friends when His servants
require succor. Those that belong to a race that is opposed to Israel
can, if God wills it, turn to be their helpers! The Lord found an
advocate for His Son, Jesus, in Pilate's house–the governor's wife
suffered many things in a dream because of Him. He can find a
friend for His servants in their persecutor's own family, even us He
raised up Obadiah to hide the Prophets and feed them in a cave–the
chamberlain to Ahab, himself, was the protector of the saints and,
with meat from Ahab's table, they were fed!
It strikes me that Shobi the Ammonite came to David because he
owed his life to him. Rabbah of Ammon had been destroyed, and
this man, probably the brother of the king, had been spared. This
act of mercy he remembered and when he found David in trouble,
he acted gratefully and came down from his highland home with
his men and with his substance. Many a good man has found
gracious help in his time of need from those who have received
salvation by his means. If we are a blessing to others, they will be a
blessing to us. If we have brought any to Christ and they have
found the Savior by our teaching, there is a peculiar tie between us
and they will be our helpers. Shobi of Rabbah of Ammon will be
sure to be generous to David, because he will say, "It is by him I
live. It is through him that I found salvation from death."
If God blesses you in the conversion of any, it may be that He
will raise them up in your time of need and send them to help–at
any rate, either by friends visible or invisible, He will cause you to
dwell in the land and verily you shall be fed. Here comes another
person we have heard of before, Machir of Lodebar. That is the
large farmer who took care of Mephibosheth. He seems to have
been a truly loyal man who stuck to royal families even when their
fortunes were adverse. As he had been faithful to the house of Saul,
so was he to David. We have among us Brothers and Sisters who
are always friends of God's ministers–they love them for their
Master's sake and adhere to them when the more fickle spirits rush
after new comers. Happy are we to have many such adherents!
They helped the preacher's predecessor–they like to talk of the
grand old man who ruled Israel in the olden times and they are not
tired of it. And they are the entertainers of the present leader and
are equally hearty in their help. God fetches up these Brethren at
the moment they are needed and they appear with loaded hands.
Here comes Barzillai, an old man of 80 years and, as the historian
tells us, "a very great man." His enormous wealth was all at the
disposal of David and his followers and, "he provided the king
sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim." This old nobleman was
certainly as useful to David as the angels were to Jacob and he and
his co-helpers were truly a part of God's forces.
The armies of God are varied–He has not one troop alone, but
many. Did not Elisha's servants see the mountain full of horses of
fire and chariots of fire? God's hosts are of varied regiments,
appearing as horse and foot, cherubim and seraphim and holy men
and holy women. Those who are of the church of God below are as
much a part of the host of God as the holiest angels above. Godly
women who minister unto the Lord do what they can and angels
can do no more. On this occasion Mahanaim well deserved its
name because the help that came to David from these different
persons came in a most noble way, as though it came by angels.
The helpers of David showed their fidelity to him. He was driven
out of his palace and likely to be dethroned, but they stood by him
and proved that they meant to stand by him. Their declaration was
in effect, "Your are we, you son of Jesse and all that we have."
Now was the time of his need and now he would see that they were
not fine weather friends, but such as were true in the hour of trial.
See their generosity! What a mass of goods they brought to sustain
David's troops in the day when they were hungry and thirsty! I
need not give you the details–your verses read like a commissariat
roll of demands. Every actually necessary form of provision is
there. How spontaneous was the gift! David did not demand–they
brought before he asked!
He had not sent his sergeants around to levy upon the outlying
villages and farms–there were the good people–ready-handed with
all manner of provisions. Their thoughtfulness was great, too, for
they seem to have thought of everything that was needed and,
besides, they said, "The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in
the wilderness." The heartiness of it all is most delightful. They
brought their contributions cheerfully and joyfully, otherwise they
would have brought only a meager sort and with less variety of
gifts. I infer from this that if at any time a servant of God is
marching onward in his Master's work and he needs assistance of
any sort, he need not trouble about it, but rest in the Lord and help
will surely come, if not from the angels above, yet from the Church
below.
Will you look at Solomon's Song, the 6 th verse, "Return, return,
O Shulamite; return, return, thatwe may look upon you. What will
you see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies,"
or Mahanaim, for that is literally how it stands in the Hebrew. In
the Church of God, then, we see the company of Mahanaim–the
saints are the angels of God on earth as the angels are His hosts
above. God will send these upon His errands to comfort and sustain
His servants in their times of need. Go on, O David, at the bidding
of your Lord, for His chosen servants here below will count it their
delight to be your allies and you shall say of them, "this is God's
host!"
And now, to close. While I have shown you God's invisible
agents and God's visible agents, I want to call to your mind that in
either case and in both cases the host is the host of God. That is to
say, the true strength and safety of the Believer is his God. We do
not trust in the help of angels. We do not trust in the Church of
God, nor in 10,000 Churches of God all put together, if there were
such, but in only God Himself. Oh, it is grand to hang on the bare
arm of God, for there hang all the worlds! The eternal arm is never
weary, nor shall those who rest on it be confused. "Trust in the
Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength."
I said last Thursday night to you that faith was nothing but
sanctified common sense and I am sure it is so. It is the most
common sense thing in the world to trust to the trustworthy–the
most reasonable thing in the world to take into your calculations
the greatest power in the world and that is God–and to place your
confidence in that power. Yes, more, since that greatest power
comprehends all the other powers–for there is no power in angels,
or in men, except what God gives them–it is wise to place all our
reliance upon God alone. The Presence of God with Believers is
more certain and constant than the presence of angels or holy men.
God has said it–"Certainly I will be with you." He has said again,
"I will not leave you, nor forsake you."
When you are engaged in Christ's service you have a special
promise to back you up–"Go you into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world." What are you afraid of, then? Be done with
trembling! Let feeble hearts be strong. What can stagger us? "God
is with us." Was there ever a grander battle cry than ours–the Lord
of Hosts is with us? Blessed was John Wesley to live by faith and
then to die saying, "The best of all is, God is with us." Shrink?
Turn your backs in the day of battle? Shame upon you! You cannot,
if God is with you, for, "if God is with us, who can be against us?"
Or if they are against us, who can stand for an hour? If, then, God
is pleased to grant us help by secondary causes, as we know He
does–for to many of us He sends many and many a friend to help in
His good work–then we must take care to see God in these friends
and helpers. When you have no helpers, see all helpers in God!
When you have many helpers, then you must see God in all your
helpers. Herein is wisdom. When you have nothing but God, see all
in God–when you have everything, then see God in everything.
Under all conditions keep your heart only on the Lord. May the
Spirit of God teach us all how to do this.
This tendency to idolatry of ours, how strong it is. If a man bows
down to worship a piece of wood or stone, we call him an idolater
and so he is. But if you and I trust in our fellow men instead of
God, it is idolatry. If we give to them the confidence that belongs to
God, we worship them instead of God. Remember how Paul said
he did not consult with flesh and blood? Alas, too many of us are
caught in that snare. We consult far more with flesh and blood than
with the Lord. The worst person I ever consult with at all is a
person who is always too near me. The Lord deliver me from that
evil man, myself! The Presence of the Lord Jesus is the star of our
night and the sun of our day! He is the cure of care, the strength of
service and the solace of sorrow! Heaven on earth is for Christ to
be with us and Heaven above is to be with Christ.
I can ask nothing better for you, Brothers and Sisters, than that
God may be with you in a very conspicuous and manifest manner
all through this day and right onward till days shall end in the
Eternal Day. I do not ask that you may see angels, still, if it can be,
so be it! But what is it, after all, to see an angel? Is not the fact of
God's Presence better than the sight of the best of His creatures?
Perhaps the Lord favored Jacob with the sight of angels because he
was such a poor, weak creature as to his faith. Perhaps if Jacob had
been perfect in his faith, he would not have needed to see angels.
He would have said, "I need no vision of heavenly spirits, for I see
their Lord." What are angels? They are only God's pages to run
upon His errands–to see their Lord is far better!
The angels of God are not to be compared with the God of
angels! If my confidence is in God, that He is my Father and that
Jesus Christ has become the Brother of my soul and that the Holy
Spirit dwells in me according to His own Word, why need I care,
although no vision of the supernatural should ever gladden my
eyes? Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.
"We walk by faith, not by sight," and in that joyous faith we rest,
expecting that in time and to eternity the power of God will be with
us, either visibly or invisibly, by men or by angels! His arm shall be
lifted up for us and His right arm shall defend us.
My heart is glad, for I, too, have had my Mahanaim and in this
my hour of need for the work of the Lord to which He has called
me I see the windows of Heaven opened above me and I see troops
of friends around me. For the Girls Orphanage now to be
commenced I see Providence moving! Two camps are around me,
also, and, therefore, do I preach to you this day of that which I have
seen and known! May the Angel of the Covenant be always with
you. Amen. PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE
SERMON–Genesis 31:43-55; 32:1, 2; 2 Samuel 17:27-29; Psalm
23.HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–708, 34, 674.
Ge 32:9-12 • Jacob's Model Prayer
ERMON 3010
Jacob's Model Prayer
You must have noticed, dear Friends, how very frequently God
makes the life of a man to be the reflection of his character. There
is an echo in the outward experience, to the inward character of the
man.
Look at the life of Abraham. He trusted God in a very eminent
degree–shall I be incorrect if I say that God also eminently trusted
him? The Lord spoke with Abraham as a man speaks with his
friend and when He was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah,
He said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" And
as Abraham had trusted God in so notable a manner, the Lord
entrusted his seed with the oracles of God and with the outward
forms of religious worship, so that it was through the seed of
Abraham that the Truth of God was handed on, from generation to
generation, until the days of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then, next, in contrast to the life of Abraham, take the case of
Jacob. He begins life by cheating his brother and, however that
cheating may have been overruled so as to fulfill the purposes of
God, it was altogether unjustifiable. Now, as he had begun with
Esau in that fashion, so he had it returned into his own bosom.
When he was with Laban, he was cheated again and again–cheated
even in the wife who was given or sold to him. He was a great
bargainer–shrewd, crafty, not over scrupulous–the typical father of
the Jews, yet you know how he was continually being overreached
by Laban who could also bargain on his own account. What a
bargaining life it was all through–and what a life of sorrow,
although he was still favored of God. His outward experience was
the echo of his inward character. As he had done to others, so was it
done to him and in him was fulfilled our Lord's declaration which
had not then been uttered, "With what measure you mete, it shall be
measured to you again."
Also look at Moses, practically renouncing the throne of Egypt by
refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter because he
esteemed the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than all the
treasures in Egypt! Yet what did he afterwards become? Was he not
king in Jeshurun, with a strange and marvelous power over the
hosts of the Lord and with a greater Kingdom under him, according
to the judgment of all who are able to weigh things rightly, than he
could ever have had if he had become the ruler of Egypt and the
son of Pharaoh's daughter?
I might give you other illustrations of this fact, but I want, rather,
to attract your attention to the better side of Jacob's character as we
have it revealed in the prayer which I have selected for our
meditation on this occasion.
The Chapter from which our text is taken informs us as to the
circumstances of Jacob's case at the time that he offered this prayer.
He had just escaped from his trouble with Laban when he received
the inexpressible honor of being met by "the angels of God." But,
lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of
the Revelations which they made to him, a second trouble followed
closely upon the heels of the first. He was soon to meet his brother,
Esau, and then the great sin of his earlier years would be brought
home to him. He had deceived his old father, Isaac, and had gained
the birthright blessing by utterly unjustifiable subtlety–and he
might reasonably expect that he was about to reap the due reward
of his evil deeds!
With true Oriental craft and also with a considerable amount of
common sense, he has various plans for appeasing the wrath of his
brother. And then, when he had done what he thought to be wise,
he betook himself to prayer. Brothers and Sisters, let us learn from
Jacob's experience to expect troubles, especially if we have so
acted as to bring trouble upon ourselves–but let us also learn from
Jacob's action that while planning is right enough when kept within
its proper bounds, prayer is much more important. We may easily
go to excess in our planning. We may depend so much upon an arm
of flesh and upon our own wisdom and prudence–and have such
confidence in our own scheming that it may, after all, turn out to be
utter folly! The staff on which we lean may turn out to be, at best,
but a broken reed–perhaps even a spear which shall pierce and
wound us. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in
man"–or to have confidence in ourselves for, even if we had all the
wisdom that it is possible for man to attain, it would be but
createdwisdom! Whereas, if we go at once to the Lord our God, we
shall go to Infinite Wisdom and we may expect to be guided rightly
through all the difficulties of the way!
Prayer, my Brothers and Sisters, must be our first resource. But if
it is the last, let it be the first as well. Let us not merely go to God's
door because we have tried everybody else and failed. Let us not go
to the Fountain simply because the cisterns are exhausted, but let us
go to our God first and foremost! And let us say, "Even if earth's
cisterns did contain water, we would not forsake our God for them.
And if all the forces of our fellow creatures were as real and
powerful as they profess to be, we would still lean upon the arm
that bears up the whole universe–the unseen arm of the faithful
Creator."
I selected this subject for our meditation, on this occasion,
because it appears to me to give us a sort of model of whatprayer
should beJacob's last pleathe answer to this model prayer of the
Patriarch.
First, then, concerning JACOB'S MODEL PRAYER, which is
one of the earliest that is recorded in Holy Scripture–at least in
such detail.
I commend it for your imitation, my dear Friends, first, because
of the plainness of its matter. Jacob does not comebefore God with
a long roundabout story, telling in general terms the fact that he
was in some sort of trouble, out of which he wished to be Divinely
helped, but he distinctly mentions the perilous circumstances in
which he found himself. He says, "O God…deliver me, I pray You,
from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau." Of course
God knew that the name of Jacob's brother was Esau, yet Jacob
thought it was necessary to mention his brother's name in order
that his prayer should be definite and clear. So he pleaded, "Deliver
me, I pray you, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of
Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the
mother with the children." He was probably then alluding to his
dearly-beloved Rachel and her son Joseph, though he may also
have referred to the other mothers in the company, for he was a
tender father and cared for his children and he mentioned them as
being very near his heart, and especially needing Divine protection.
So you see that Jacob is very clear as to what he asks of God–and I
urge you, my Brothers and Sisters, to imitate him in this respect.
When we pray, we sometimes use very roundabout expressions.
We do not come straight to the point. We seem to imagine that a
kind of religious etiquette forbids us from speaking plainly at the
Throne of Grace. I am persuaded that this notion is altogether
wrong and, instead of God approving this mode of speaking to Him
in prayer, He would much rather have us speak to Him as a child
speaks to his earthly father–respectfully, reverently, remembering
that He is in Heaven and we are on earth–yet simply and plainly,
for our Heavenly Father needs no garnishing of our speech and the
poor tawdry flowers of eloquence with which some of our Brothers
at times adorn their prayers must be displeasing to God rather than
acceptable to Him. Especially must you unconverted ones imitate
Jacob in this matter of plainness of speech–when you pray, never
mind about the mode of your expression, but come to the main
point at once. Tell the Lord that you have grievously offended Him
and mention your sins by name to Him in private. If your great sin
has been drunkenness, call it by that name! If it has been
uncleanness, call it by that name! Do not endeavor to dissemble
before the Lord, or to cloak your sin before the all-seeing Jehovah!
You need not reach for a Prayer Book to see how the bishops
would have you pray, nor borrow somebody's Morning Devotions
to see how a certain eminent Divine prayed–but go straight to God
and say, "O Lord, You know what I need! I am a poor guilty sinner
and I cannot express myself in such a way as to please my fellow
creatures, but You know what I am and what I need. Will You
graciously give me the pardon of my sin, O You who alone can
forgive the guilty? Will You receive me to Your bosom, You
blessed Savior of the lost?" Come to the point with God, dear
Friends. Be explicit with Him. Let it be seen that you are not
praying for the mere sake of performing a certain religious
ceremony, but that you have real business to transact with the Most
High! You know what your request is and you do not intend to
leave the Mercy Seat until your request is granted.
So I commend Jacob's prayer to you because of the plainness of
its speech.
Next, it is to be commended for the humility of its spirit. Notice
especially these words of the Patriarch, "I am notworthy of the
least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which You have showed
unto Your servant, for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and
now I am become two bands." If you even hint that there is any
worthiness in yourself, the power of your prayer is at once
destroyed! But if you plead your unworthiness, you will then be
standing where the publican stood when he cried, "God be merciful
to me, a sinner." And you know how "he went down to his house
justified rather than the Pharisee," who said that he fasted twice in
the week, gave tithes of all he possessed, and was not like other
men, especially that publican! In that way he destroyed any power
that his prayer might otherwise have possessed. His self-conceit
tore the chariot wheels from his prayer so that it dragged heavily
and soon could not move even an inch! On the other hand, a deep
sense of sin, a full consciousness of utter unworthiness will enable
you, like Jacob, to wrestle with the great Angel of the Covenant
and to prevail over Him. Possibly you have not succeeded with
God because you have not sunk low enough before Him. You
unconverted ones, especially, if you put your mouths in the very
dust, that will be the best attitude for you to assume. If you still
have some relics of strength, you will not receive Divine Strength.
If there are some remnants of the pristine idea of human merit
tolerated in your heart, the robe of Christ's righteousness will not
be wrapped around you! Ask the Lord to strip you of every rag of
self-righteousness, to enable you to trust in Jesus, alone, and to
have no confidence in the flesh–either in the feelings which you
experience or in the works which you do! Your time of uplifting
will follow close upon your time of falling down flat upon your
face. The dawn of day succeeds the darkest hour of the night, so
ask God to bring you down to that dark hour in which the night
covers every hope that is born of human confidence, for then will
the Lord appear to you in His brightness! So, imitate the prayer of
Jacob in its humility of spirit.
The third point in which I would have you copy Jacob's model
prayer is in the arguments to be used. The wholeprayer is highly
argumentative. If some of the prayers I have heard at Prayer
Meetings–though I must say that the fault is less in this place than
in most others with which I have become acquainted–if some of the
prayers at certain Prayer Meetings were less doctrinal, less
experimental and more argumentative with God, they would be
more like true prayershould be, for true prayer is just pleading with
the Most High, spreading our case before Him, and then pressing
our suit with all the arguments we can muster!
In this short prayer of the Patriarch, no less than four arguments
are used. The first is the argument from the Covenant–"O God of
my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac." God had entered
into Covenant relationship with Abraham and made solemn
promises to him and to his seed, so Jacob prays, "O Lord, You have
pledged yourself to be the God of the seed of Abraham, whose
grandson I am, and of the seed of Isaac, whose son I am–now,
therefore, by Your faithfulness to Your Covenant promise, help me
in this dark hour of my life!" Beloved Friends, this is the kind of
plea that we can use with the Lord–"O God, have You not made a
Covenant with the Lord Jesus by which You have promised that
You will save all them that trust in Him? Have You not said, 'I have
given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to
the people? Then, Lord, though guilty, I trust to the merits of Your
dear Son and I ask to be absolved by virtue of His great atoning
Sacrifice. Behold, as the earthen vessel hangs upon the nail, so
hang I upon Him and upon Him alone. Now, by the Covenant of
Your Grace, which is ordered in all things and sure, I beseech You
to manifest Your love to me." If you use such gracious pleading as
that with the Lord, you will surely prevail with Him. And I urge
you, also, children of God, to do the same, for the Everlasting
Covenant is a mighty plea with God–
"In every dark distressful hour,
When sin and Satan join their power."
Then we pass on to the next use which Jacob makes of the
promise which God had given him–"You said unto me, Return unto
your country, and to your kindred, and I will deal well with you." If
you and I know that we are walking in the path of duty, if we are
where the Lord has bid us go, we can always claim the Divine
promise! The Lord is bound to protect His servants when they are
in the path of obedience to His commands. If you follow your own
counsel, you must manage to take care of yourselves. But if you go
where the Bible and the clear indications of Divine Providence
guide you, you may always reckon that the Master who sent you
will protect His obedient servants, let the dangers of the way be
whatever they may. If God should command you to go to the
utmost verge of this green earth, to rivers unknown to song, or if
He should bid you travel through distant deserts, as Mungo Park
journeyed through the midst of Africa, yet He could preserve your
life there, as well as here in England–and being there, sent by Him–
you may rest assured that you shall hear the sound of your Master's
feet behind you, or have other unmistakable evidences of His
Presence with you!
And, Sinner, this is a good plea for you to use. You can say,
"Lord, You told me to believe in Jesus Christ, Your Son, then will
You not accept me, for His sake, for I have done what You told me
to do? You have said, 'Call upon Me in the day of trouble.' Lord,
this is a day of trouble with me and I do call upon You, so will You
not answer me?" If you argue with the Lord in such a style as this,
you will find that this kind of pleading is potent with Him who is
Omnipotent.
Then, further, Jacob argued with God from his past history. He
said that he was not worthy of the least of God's mercies, yet he
had received many of them. Though he went over the river Jordan,
when he left his home, a sad and solitary man with nothing but his
walking staff in his hand, yet, he had come back with wives and
children and so great a number of servants, cattle, camels, goats,
sheep and asses that he had become like two bands. "Now, Lord,"
he said, "after all Your past mercies to me, I beseech You, do not
leave me now! Have You blessed Your servant up to this moment
and can You leave him now?" I cannot tell you how often I have
been comforted by the Truth of God implied in John Newton's
words–
"Determined to save, He watched over my path
When Satan's blind slave, I sported with death!
And can He have taught me to trust in His name,
And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?
His love in time past forbade me to think
He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink.
Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review,
Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through."
So Jacob prayed, in effect, "Lord, You have often been my Helper
in the past, so now deliver me, I pray You, from the hand of my
brother, from the hand of Esau." You, my unconverted Friend, may
ever adopt this form of pleading, for you can say, "Lord, You have
saved my life many a time when I have provoked You. Let Your
long-suffering, which now leads me to repentance, also move You
to forgive my sin. I remember what You did on Calvary for sinners
in ages long past. Did you give your well-beloved and only-
begotten Son to die for sinners and will You not now accept every
trembling sinner who seeks Your favor?" This also shall prove to
be the kind of pleading that will cause the gates of God's Grace to
open!
The fourth argument that Jacob used was perhaps the best of
all–"You said, I will surely do you good," and so on. Ah, that was
the masterstroke and, in like manner, if you would succeed at the
Mercy Seat, you must bring down the hammer of the promise upon
the head of the nail of prayer and then clinch it, as Jacob did, by
saying to the Lord, "You said," so-and-so and so-and-so. David
once said to God in prayer, "Do as You have said." When a man
has promised you something that you really need, you take him by
the button-hole and you say to him, "Now, you promised to give
me that." And if he is an honest man, you can hold him to his own
word–and shall the God of Truth ever fail to perform His promise?
No, that is one of the things that God cannot do–He cannot lie and
yet cannot run back from His promise, nor does He want to do so.
O Christian, if you would get anything from God, find a promise of
it in His Word, and then you may count the thing as good as
received! When a man of means gives you his check, you count it
just as good as hard cash–and God's promises are even better than
checks or bank notes! We have only to take them and plead them
before Him, and we may rest assured that He will honor them!
II. Thus I have tried to place before you the points in which
Jacob's prayer is worthy of both commendation and imitation. And
now I want to say something concerning our LAST PLEA which
seems to me to be very suggestive–"You said."
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, I need not say more to you
upon this matter, for you know the value of the promises of God,
and you know how to use them. But to those who are not
converted, I may perhaps speak a few words suggested by Jacob's
last plea–"You said, I will surely do you good." Sinner, lay hold, as
fast as you can, of the promise of God and then plead it with Him.
To this end, I would say to every unconverted one here who desires
to obtain the priceless blessing of salvation–study the Word of God
very diligently and always read it with the view of finding a
promise that may suit your special case. And when you read it,
study it with the firm conviction that it is God's Word and that, in
each promise, God is as truly speaking to you as though He had
sent an angel to apply that promise personally to you. Take a text
which you find to be applicable to yourself and say, "This is what
the Lord says to me as certainly as though He now spoke it in my
ear."
Next, I beseech you to remember that God's Word is absolutely
true. Fix that fact in your memory and then say to yourself that the
promise, being true, must be fulfilled. Next to the Person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the great object of faith is the promise of God–
and if we were more familiar with His promises, we should more
speedily get out of that Slough of Despond in which so many of us
flounder so long! Bunyan says that "there are, by the direction of
the Lawgiver, certain good and substantial steps placed even
through the very midst of this Slough…but these steps are hardly
seen–or if they are, men, through the dizziness of their heads, step
besides, and then they are stuck in the mud, notwithstanding the
steps are there." Look for these steps of promise, my Friend! There
is, in the Bible, a promise just exactly suited to your case, so mind
that you find it. Did you ever send for a locksmith to open a drawer
because you had lost the key and could not open it? He comes with
a great bunch of rusty keys–very much like God's promises which
you have allowed to get rusty through not using them–and first he
tries one key and then another, and another till, at last, he gets the
right one–and the treasures in your drawer are spread open before
you! It is just so with the treasures of God's mercy. There is one
special promise in Scripture which will fit the words of the lock of
your experience–and you must try promise after promise till, at
last, you get the right one and then you can say to the Lord, as
Jacob did, "You said." That is the main matter–what God has said.
Never mind what I say–that does not mean a thing except so far as
I say what God says! Never mind what anybody else has said, but
let your one concern be to know what God says!
Good Mr. William Jay, of Bath, writing upon this passage, "You
said, I will surely do you good," makes four observations which I
commend to both saints and sinners. The first is, God has the
ability to do you good. Whatevergood it is that you need, God can
give it to you. Pardon of sin, help in trouble, comfort in distress,
whatever it is that you really need, God has the ability to give it to
you and so to do you good. In the second place, God has the
inclinationto do you good. You need not speak to Him as if He
were unwilling to bless you–it is according to His Nature to be
gracious. Love is one of His chief attributes and His loving
kindness and tender mercies greatly abound. He as much delights
to show kindness to the needy as a generous man delights to relieve
the needs of the poor. In the next place, Godis under an
engagement to do you good. "You said, Surely I will do you good."
God has given a promise to seeking sinners that He will be found
of them. To repentant sinners, that He will pardon them. To
believing sinners, that they shall find eternal life. And then, the
fourth thing is, God has already done good to you. This fact ought
to strengthenyour faith. The Lord has the ability, the inclination and
He is under engagement to do you good–and He has already begun
to do it!
I may say to you, my Hearers, that the Lord has done you some
good in bringing you here to listen to the Gospel and in making that
Gospel so sweet and so generous a Gospel as it is–a Gospel for
those who labor and are heavy laden, and who can find no rest
anywhere else–a Gospel for the very chief of sinners, as Paul wrote
to Timothy, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am chief." I put into your hands this plea of Jacob, "You
said, I will surely do you good." Go and plead it and the Lord do
unto you according to your faith!
III. My last words which must be very few–concern THE
ANSWER WHICH JACOB'S PRAYER RECEIVED.
His prayer was answered, but
it was not answered in the way he expected it would be. When he
had done praying, he
found that all his plans had been knocked on the head–so you
need not wonder if you find the same thing happen to you when
you have done praying! Do not be astonished, my dear Hearers, if,
when you have gone to God in prayer, you should seem to feel
worse than you did before. There is a young friend–I daresay he is
here now–who told me that he came to hear me for many months–
that he became outwardly reformed and was, as he thought, going
on well, till there came, one Lord's-Day morning, a sermon
[Sermon Number 732, Volume 13–THE HEART–A DEN OF
EVIL–Read/download the entire sermon, free of charge at
http://www.spurgeons.org.] about the corruption of the human heart
which knocked all to pieces his pretty castle in the air,upset all his
hopes and utterly destroyed his self-confidence! I am very glad it
did, for his hopes and trust were all false! And, afterwards, by
God's Grace, he began to build upon a far firmer foundation.
Sometimes, when you have been praying for salvation, God
answers you by destroying all your hopes. You ask Him to save
you, and you think he would do it in a way that would make you
happy. But, instead of that, He plucks up all your fine plants by the
roots and turns your pretty garden into a desert because He knows
that the flowers you were growing were all poisonous and must be
cleared away before He can plant those which will be the plants of
His right hand planting!
When God answered Jacob, He met him, not as his Friend, but as
his wrestling Opponent. Jacob had a fierce duel, which lasted all
night long, by Jabbok's Brook. And if God really appears to you, I
should not be surprised if He comes at first like an enemy and you
will have to say to Him as Job did, "You hunt me as a fierce lion."
God's choicest mercies often come to us under the guise of
adversities. God sends His love letters to us in black-edged
envelopes and sometimes we are afraid to open them. If we would
but do so, we should soon know the loving kindness of the Lord.
Jacob was to have an answer to his prayer but, before the answer
came, he had to wrestle–no, worse than that–before Jacob was fully
delivered, he had to be made to limp and all his life afterwards he
went halting upon his thigh. You, poor Sinner, may be made to feel
your sinfulness so much that you will be driven almost to despair!
And you, Believer, will possibly have to fight with Satan as long as
you are in this body.
Although Jacob's own plans were put on one side, and God met
him as though He were his enemy, and the poor Patriarch went on
limping when the sun rose over Peniel, yet, for all that, he did get
his prayer answered! His brother"Esau ran to meet him, and
embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." So, Beloved,
trust in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, and your enemies shall
become your friends, your doubts shall end in joy, your tribulations
shall melt away into glory and you shall prove that "all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to His purpose."
Brothers and Sisters, the pith of the whole matter is this, "Trust in
the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."