"I will not let Thee go unless Thou bless me. "
- Gen. xxxii. 26.
"Yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed: he wept,
and made supplication."-Hos. xii. 4.
MANY of God's children have confessed that after years of religious exercise
they knew or understood but little of what it really meant to agonise in
prayer, either for themselves or for others, until brought face to face
with some great trial or calamity. Then were they greatly surprised when,
for the first time, they discovered what little they knew of the spirit
and power of "fervent effectual prayer." Doubtless for this reason
God has often to allow some trouble or affliction to come over men's lives
in order that He may be able to draw them out into a real spirit of prevailing
prayer. Had it not been for this special trial and crisis which was permitted
to overtake Jacob, it is possible that he would never have been changed
from a supplanter to a Prince in Israel. It is evident that true prayer
puts the heart into the best condition for the enduring of our troubles
as well as for the exercise of our faith for complete and final victory.
For over twenty years Jacob and Esau were at variance. But now the command
came from God to Jacob to return to his own land, to the place where his
brother Esau dwelt. A tree that has been steadily growing for twenty long
years is likely to get firmly rooted. And we may reckon that the root of
bitterness and the spirit of enmity that had been growing in the heart of
Esau for so long must have become very strong and stubborn. It had grown
from the feeling of anger to that of malice and murder. He had said on a
former occasion, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then
will I slay my brother Jacob" (Gen. xxvii. 41). Therefore we are able
to understand to some extent the awful sense of despair and self-retribution
that must have taken possession of Jacob, especially when he received the
command to return to his own land. No doubt, he could already see the dark
shadow of his brother's approach. To take steps in that direction would
be to afford Esau just the opportunity he had long waited for in order to
carry out his threat, which would mean to Jacob the suffering of a cruel
death. With feelings such as these gnawing at his heart, we would think
he must have felt strongly tempted to disobey the command. But, notwithstanding
all his temptation and his fears, he is resolved to go forward in the path
of duty.
After due preparation he set out on his journey, but only a few days pass
before he is brought face to face with a fearful crisis - a crisis which
is immortalised through the whole history of the Church. "Jacob lifted
up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred
men." Possibly as they marched forward they more likely gave the appearance
of four thousand. What a tumult of thought must have been created in the
breast of Jacob when the hostile host came within sight! Nothing can be
more natural than to suppose that Esau fully intended to carry out his threat.
Doubtless the aggravating event relating to Jacob's trickery and duplicity
had gained strength with Esau, and had grown rapidly upon him during the
whole length of the march. And, considering he is the leader and commander
of his band of soldiers, he must have regard for his position. Besides,
had not the prospect of victory been running high among rank and file of
his devoted followers; and can he afford to cut off the hope of their expectation
by manifesting a relenting or forgiving spirit? What will be said on their
return? No! he must rally every opposing force of his nature and close down
the door of his iron-like soul to every feeling of compassion, and put on
the determined face, so as to appear with a warlike front and keep rank.
Tramp, tramp, tramp, they march forward on their journey, fully resolved
to wipe out the very name of Jacob and his followers for ever.
Without doubt, Jacob had had his times of self-reproach, but never a time
like the present. I fancy he would say to himself, "I am to blame for
all this. Too well do I remember my brother's disappointment when he found
that I had not only robbed him of his birthright, but had also taken away
his blessing. And now my family, together with all my innocent followers,
have to suffer because of my guilt. I own that I deserve to be wiped out
and my name blotted out for ever." Who can tell what feelings of remorse
and consternation wrung the soul of Jacob when he saw the two bands rapidly
approaching? And now, as they came within a stone's-throw of each other,
lo, Esau, as if suddenly seized with a spirit of impatience to have his
revenge upon his brother, ran to meet him. What indescribable horror must
now enter the minds and hearts of Jacob's party! Surely they expect no other
than to see him fall a victim to his brother's rage. When, to the astonishment
of both parties, Esau falls on his brother Jacob's neck, and kisses him.
"And they wept."
What power on earth, we ask, could have brought about a change like this?
Compared with this the changing of the order of the material universe is
as nothing. Only one answer can be given, and that is the omnipotency of
prayer. In other words, Jacob's deliverance is the result of the operation
of God's power in answer to his effectual fervent prayer. The following
prayer offered by Jacob on the previous night is the best explanation of
this remarkable victory: "And Jacob said, O God of my father
Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return
unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I
am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which
Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this
Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray Thee, 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. And Thou saidst, I
will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be numbered for multitude. . . . And Jacob was left alone; and there
wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that
he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the
hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he
said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he
said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel:
for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said,
Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there"
(Gen. xxxii. 9-29).
We do not know of any word that more fully expresses the prayer of Jacob
than the word - intense. It is evident in this case that God allowed Jacob
in his prayer to stretch out more strainedly until all the guile was completely
taken out of his nature. Not only so, but under the power of God, Jacob
was able to pray and to hold on just so long as the strain was necessary,
and that too in a very successful manner, otherwise it would never have
been recorded, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel:
for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
Thus Jacob, who represented the lowest type of manhood, was suddenly raised
to the highest place of power and dignity, and named Israel. The prophet
Hosea, referring to this occasion, speaks of Jacob's prayer as a spiritual
exercise, and not, as some suppose, merely physical. Hence it is recorded
that "he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made
supplication unto him" (Hos. xii. 4).
Some tell us that Jacob did not wrestle at all; others say that he wrestled
too long and put himself under too great a strain. The fault, however, with
too many of our prayers is the fact that they are so very brittle that they
break off long before they get to straining point. Some who know little
or nothing about agonising prayer say God does not require it. Then it is
certain He does not require our indolence or laziness.
It is said of a certain youth, being in the temple with Alexander, that,
when offering incense to his god, a coal fell from the golden censer on
to the youth's hand and burnt his wrist. The youth, considering what a sacred
thing he was about, although he felt his wrist burning, yet would not stir,
but continued to the end. Ought not this to shame those who sometimes allow
mere trifles to break off their communion with God?
We may learn, however, from Jacob's prayer that the place of man's extreme
weakness is the place of God's supreme power, as well as that it affords
a place for divine opportunity. So very few are willing to be brought to
a place of utter helplessness so as to learn like Jacob the uselessness
of attempting to get the victory in our own strength. It is far easier for
human nature to rely upon human might or wisdom than to come to a place
of self-abasement and be willing that God alone shall be our deliverer.
Paul, no doubt, had reached this point in his experience, when he exclaimed,
"The sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God which raiseth the dead" (2 Cor. i. 9).
It was indeed a great miracle of mercy for Jacob when the Lord, in answer
to his prayer, changed the whole spirit and purpose of his brother Esau
towards him, so that suddenly matters were made right between them. But
the display of God's power in the sanctification of Jacob's inner life,
in the taking away, as it were, the twist out of his nature, far outranked
the former transaction, because in this, the latter case, it removed the
real cause of all the trouble and raised him to the position of a prince,
a ruler with God, and so transfigured his life that ever afterward Jacob
remained a superior man.
It is here, more especially, where the victory on the divine side comes
in. One touch of the Almighty's grace when Jacob came into vital contact
with Him immediately withered up all his subtlety and carnality. Up to this
time, Jacob's chief supplication was, "Deliver me, I pray Thee, from
the hand of my brother." But the Lord led him to see that his greatest
need was to be delivered from his deceitful self - the Jacob, the supplanter,
the schemer. We repeat, it is more than likely that circumstances had been
allowed to lead up to the highest point in the experience of Jacob in order
to induce him to make a full and glad surrender and to afford an opportunity
for a work to be wrought in his heart that would be a greater praise to
the triumph of the Redeemer's grace than if He had created a new world.
This we may gather from the fact that on three occasions, when reference
is made to the above transaction, He, the Lord, is spoken of as the mighty
God of Jacob (see Gen. xlix. 24; Ps. cxxxii. 2 and 5). Thus all the glory
of this wonderful operation both in the inward and the outward deliverance
of Jacob is ascribed, as it should be, to the Lord Himself.
There has been a time in the experience of most of us when, if the name
of Jacob was mentioned, we were tempted to look upon him as no other than
a trickster, a supplanter, or, as one who had taken advantage of his brother,
and possessing guile enough to have played the same trick upon a thousand
others were the opportunity given. But now, since we have learnt to look
upon him from the transfigured side of his character, we see a man radiant
with the presence of God.
Some we have known appear to be so well acquainted with the faults and failings
of their brethren that they have failed to discover or to recognise the
nobler qualities possessed by such men as Jacob, and others of his type.
Nor would they trouble themselves to know anything about the spiritual struggles,
or the days and nights spent by such in agonising prayer in order to get
a complete victory over their faults. And should they by some means get
to hear of such a victory, the possibility is that it will soon be forgotten.
So that in vain, as far as they are concerned, has a Jacob, a David, or
a Peter emerged triumphant in his struggles. The worldly, the lukewarm Christian,
will still point to the dark shadow that has passed. But it is to be feared
that many of this class have never experienced a real spiritual Waterloo
in their lives. That is to say, they have never been brought under the convicting
power of the Holy Spirit in a way so as to lay violent hands on their own
pride and sloth and unbelief, or sought to put to death the Agag of their
own hearts. Possibly, they have never spent a solid half-hour in real agonising
prayer since the day they were born. Satan is quite aware of this and can
therefore afford to let them alone, whereas he will bring his heaviest artillery
to bear upon those who are skilled in the weapon of prevailing prayer. As
a matter of fact he will not leave a stone unturned in order, if possible,
to overthrow the faith of such as have joined the ranks of spiritual intercessors.
But, God be praised, the prayers of such as approach God through faith in
the Redeemer's merits, and in reliance upon the Holy Spirit, shall come
off more than conquerors.
Some one asked the Rev. Dinsdale Young if it was possible for any one who
had sinned as David did to be called a man after God's own heart. "Yes,"
said Mr. Young, "if he repents like David." The same is true with
reference to Jacob.
We have a remarkable reference to the reward of faithfulness in this duty
given in Hosea, namely, "Judah yet ruleth with God, and is
faithful with the saints" (Hos. xi. 12). Dr. Adam Clarke, in his commentary
on the above verse, says, "There is an allusion here to Gen. xxxii.
24, when Jacob wrestled with the angel and his name was changed to Israel,
one that ruleth with God. That glory Israel lost through idolatry, but Judah
still retains the true worship, and so deserves the name Israel." It
is evident, however, that Jacob as an individual retained the name Israel,
and was not a whit behind the mightiest of God's intercessors, and because
of this, his success in the power of prevailing prayer, his God - given
name Israel is left on everlasting record. "Jacob, with all his mistakes,"
says the late C. H. Spurgeon, "was a master in the art of prayer."
We talk about our battles of Waterloo, Sebastopol, Mons, the Somme, etc.,
but the spiritual battles won at Jabbok, Mount Carmel, Gethsemane, and other
places, like the Upper Room Prayer-meeting, have done, and will do, infinitely
more to change the destiny of nations and to bring about universal peace
and righteousness than all the battles ever won by carnal weapons.
Oh, the wonderful possibilities that are placed at the disposal of those
who, through the Spirit of all grace, have become wrestling Jacobs and prevailing
Israels! This privilege, dear reader, is yours, even though your lot be
cast among the poor and despised of earth and thou thyself looked upon as
a worm and no man. Yet if thou hast learned to claim thy full inheritance
in the Spirit of grace and supplication, thou too mayest become a spiritual
force which, under God, may set in motion a glorious revival that shall
turn multitudes from sin to righteousness, the influence of which, as in
the case of Jacob, may give an inspiration to the prayer-life of untold
millions. Volumes have been written and multitudes of sermons have been
preached all down through the ages and in all parts of the world on the
subject of Jacob's prevailing power in prayer and intercession. It is evident
that no man unacquainted with the value and power of prayer, who lacks faith
or power of intensity, can ever expect to prevail mightily with God as Jacob
did. On this point one of our ablest writers remarked that Jacob in prayer
became so potent that he overcame Omnipotence. He was so mighty that he
overcame the Almighty (Gen. xxxii. 28; Hos. xii. 4). Nor can we deny, as
stated by Mr. Spurgeon, that God had bound His own hands by His truth and
His promise, "I will do thee good." This is the secret of all
great prayer leaders who in the past have been mighty through God in the
pulling down of strongholds. Like Jacob, they have learnt to base their
petitions upon the unfailing Word of God. May the mighty God of Jacob raise
up a multitude of such prayer leaders for the present and for the time to
come! |