Welcome back and so glad to be studying with you again in this next lesson.
I wanted to share with you a common problem that I have faced with anxiety. I knew in my mind that as a Christian I was meant to rest in God’s promises and let Jesus carry my loads. However, during the time of my bondage to this struggle, I kept up a calm pretence on the outside, even though on the inside, my heart looked quite different. You might know the common illustration of a duck swimming peacefully on the surface of the water but its webbed feet are frantically paddling below the surface, to keep up the appearance above.
I desperately wrestled in my fearful thoughts and emotions with myself in a way that excluded trusting in God. I submitted to my circumstances out of pride giving them my full attention, but not to God as I lacked humility. I preferred thinking of my own quick fixes and actions each day to plug the hole in the dam wall of my fear which threatened to pour out over my daily life. Overtime, a sinful pattern of deception developed from living within a refuge of self-reliance, hiding from God, myself and others and causing sin-stained relationships around me.
A verse that gave me much hope at this time was in Philippians 4:6 which says: "Cast your anxiety on the Lord by praying and letting your requests be made known to him." It encouraged me to see that God had given us a place to leave our fears with Jesus Christ, opening up our clenched hands in faith to see the works He has done at the cross to give God’s provision in every time of need.
In Genesis 25-32, we read of Jacob and his childhood fear and rivalry towards his brother Esau and how a life of fear and unresolved guilt for sin can reach over decades. Jacob went on to become the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. What a reminder to us that even though we are so unworthy of such love, the arm of the Lord is not too short to save (Isaiah 59:1) and to reach down into our darkness and bring us up into God-praising restoration.
Seeing the gospel in scripture
Within the story of Jacob, we see a heart transformation that changed what drove this troubled man at the deepest level. Through his smaller story, we also see the bigger story of Jesus’ rescue of His people’s hearts at Calvary, transforming them from hardened stone to softened flesh (Ezekiel 36:26):
First born Esau and Jacob were twins born to Isaac, the son of Abraham, and Rebekah, and they lived their lives cheating each other and their families. Jacob first tricked Esau to give up his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34), then deceived his father by wearing coverings and clothes that resembled his brother to steal his rich blessing (Genesis 27:1-29), and even mysteriously conned his father-in-law out of his herds of livestock (Genesis 30:25-43).
What a life of sinful swindling Jacob led, trying to make a name for himself but underneath, his heart was more fearful of others than of God. The result was that his brother threatened to murder him and Jacob fled his home to marry and work for his new family. Esau comforted himself with hatred until over 20 years later, Jacob learned he was about to meet him in his journeying (Genesis 27:42). There are lessons of covenant mercy and grace throughout this story for us all:
1. Fear is overcome by first receiving God’s peace through Christ, not through peace with man
Discovering that Esau was just ahead in the land of Seir, Jacob sent his estranged brother a message, attempting to show that he was of no threat to him, seeking goodwill, and calling him ‘my lord’ twice over:
“And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.” Genesis 32:3-5
The response from Esau was brief, causing Jacob to be filled with terror and dread as he imagined a war ahead of him against an army of 400 men who were as angry as his brother:
”And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.” Genesis 32:6-7a
Jacob gave his brother a peaceful message but his heart was not at rest. With tunnel vision, he amplified the fearful hopelessness of his situation and the evil intentions of Esau, as we might also recognize in our own fearful responses. He sought favor and peace not from God but from his brother, not realising that his real adversary lay within his sinful heart.
If we are to find peace from the distress of this world, we need to come to the right place to find it. Searching for our salvation from moral causes, in achievement or self-change programs devoid of the gospel, or from seeking the goodwill of others will not change the state of our spiritual hearts.
At the cross, Jesus, free of all guilt and sin, was the only One who has overcome the world (John 16:33) through being the scapegoat for our sin and its penalty. The peace we received was between God and man, not between man and other people or entities. We were reconciled and made to be in right standing with God, and now we stand righteously in all of Jesus’ perfections (2 Corinthians 5:18). It is a peace that passes all understanding and is distinct from the superficial peace of the world and humankind (John 14:27). From the overflow of this peace, comes a heart that prizes living a life of forgiveness towards others as we know we have been forgiven by Jesus for all of our sin (Colossians 3:13).
Jesus was the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) for us by becoming a pummelled and unrecognizable piece of flesh hung out on a cross for our sin and guilt and then rising to new life. Our peace with God in Christ was written clearly in bright crimson in His lines of wounds.
2. Fear is overcome by seeing God’s acceptance through Christ, not through man’s works and wisdom
Jacob thought quickly to save himself and his family from the imminent offensive of Esau and his men by splitting his group into two camps. Ahead of him, he established defensive fences of protection by spacing out his livestock herds. These were given as appeasement gifts to Esau, leaving himself and the mothers and children at the rear of the procession:
“Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!”…7 “He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape… So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the drove” Genesis 32:1-2a; 7b-8, 13-19
Jacob did not pray to God but developed these plans from his own wisdom. Even after a visitation from a ministry of angels when he exclaimed: “This is God’s camp” (Genesis 32:1-2), his plans were still driven by fear and not through trust in God. His heart was encircled by rings of self-protection and scheming in his flesh.
“For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” Genesis 32:20
Question 2: Thinking of a fearful situation you have been in, what strategies of human wisdom have you used to go ahead of God?
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Many of our plans, as Jacob’s strategies in the face of danger also appeared, may seem sensible such as contacting a friend, distracting ourselves in some way, or breathing our way into calmness. Other approaches such as hiding from others or putting on false humility as a disguise do not show God’s love to others. But how long have you been using these ideas and has anything changed in a long-lasting way? How is your heart, friend?