After 20 years with Laban, Jacob is finally on his way back to the promised land. At the outset, he sees and knows God's presence in Genesis 32, but when faced with the prospect of meeting his estranged brother Esau, fear took hold. Jacob panicked a bit, forgetting the security of God's promise to him. In his anxiety, he tried to control the situation, sending gifts ahead to appease Esau. But while Jacob was wrestling with fear, God showed up to wrestle Jacob so that he'd trust God's strength and not his own. What fear or anxiety are you wrestling with these days? Are you grasping for control and trying to manage outcomes like Jacob? Or will you slow down and rest in God's presence and promise?
Jacob had quite a life. It was one that was all about God's presence, but I'm not sure he saw it that way!
In Jacob we'll see the life of a twin brother who struggled against his own family from the womb all the way to old age, until he finally learned how to allow God's pursuing presence to define his life.
Jacob's journey, in many ways, is the opposite of what God desires for us. (To call it messy is an understatement.) Yet his life is also one of many in Scripture where we see God never quits pursuing us!
