Advanced Level, Block 3—Outcomes of Jacob and Joseph
Week 23
Jacob—Protecting Himself from His Brother Esau
Point to Emphasize: We should trust God’s Word rather than our own ability to fix things.
Reference Reading: Genesis 31:3; 32:1-21, footnote 131; 33:1-16, footnote 41; Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 73-74
Memory Verse: …Be strong and take courage; do not be afraid or dismayed. For Jehovah your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9b)
Story Sample
Jacob was sent by his parents to his relatives’ house to escape the anger of his brother, Esau, after Jacob tricked him out of his birthright. Jacob was with his uncle Laban and worked for him for twenty years. But, one day, God told Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” Wow! God told Jacob to return to where Esau was. Had Esau forgiven Jacob for taking his birthright? Was Esau still angry at him? Should Jacob fear for his life? No! Jacob simply needed to trust in God’s Word and believe God was going to be with him and care for him, and just return. God was very clear and said, “I will be with you.” Let’s see what Jacob did.
Well, Jacob did obey God and started his journey. But instead of trusting in God’s Word, he decided to do things to try to protect himself from Esau. First, he sent messengers to tell Esau he was returning and was hoping he would find favor in his eyes. When the messenger came back, they told Jacob that Esau was on his way to meet him and was coming with four hundred men. Oh, Jacob was overcome with fear! He suspected that Esau was coming to kill him and his family, so he decided to divide his people and possessions in two camps. In this way, he was trying to protect himself. If Esau came to attack one camp, the other camp could escape. Jacob thought he was so clever!
Jacob prayed and told God to please deliver him from the hand of Esau for he feared him and his attack. He even reminded God of His promise to Jacob to care for him and his people. But although Jacob prayed to God, he did not trust in his prayer. Rather, after he prayed, Jacob came up with his own idea to send gifts from his flock to Esau. He divided the gifts into three groups and sent each with a servant and asked them to go before Esau, going out one group at a time. Each servant was to meet and give the presents to Esau and tell him that Jacob would be coming. Jacob was hoping that all of these presents would help to make peace with Esau and that Esau would accept him. Do you think Jacob needed to do this? [Have some of the children respond.]
Here we see that Jacob was not trusting in God’s Word but instead went to a lot of work to protect himself from Esau. Jacob feared Esau’s reaction to his coming back. He did not put his trust in what God had spoken to him, but rather he trusted his own skill and ability to protect himself. He was carried away by his fears and worry, not relying on God’s Word. The outcome of not trusting in God’s Word was his striving to protect himself.
Oftentimes, we are like Jacob. Even though we know God’s Word is reliable, we don’t fully trust in God. Immediately in our minds, we start to fear and worry and we end up formulating a plan based on what we think is best, just like Jacob. We start looking into how WE can handle things. But, are we better than God? Are we smarter than God? Absolutely NOT! We need to trust in God and trust in His Word.
I want you for a moment to think of a situation in which you said or did something wrong. Afterward, you realized you were wrong and you decided to apologize. However, on your way to meet the other person, even though you were sure that it was the right thing to apologize and you knew that God was with you, you started to fear something. Then, you may have started to think of what to say or what to do to try to skillfully fix the problem all by yourself. Sometimes even rather than going through with the apology, you may have even tried to explain yourself out of the apology. I’m sure we all have had these moments. I want you to know that instead of worrying about how it will all turn out, you can trust in God’s Word and trust He is with you. [Storyteller, please share your personal story if you have one.]
So, even as children, you can pray and have many conversations with God. After you pray, you don’t need to be like Jacob trying to fix everything for yourself. You can choose to trust in God and follow His way. You can trust what God says in His Word, that He will always care for you.