The Truth Of The Situation

Fulfilling Your Destiny

Journey Into The Promised Land

Genesis 32:1–23 (CSB)

PREPARING TO MEET ESAU

32 Jacob went on his way, and God’s angels met him. ²When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.^,

³Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the territory of Edom. ⁴He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now. ⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves. I have sent this message to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.’ ”

⁶When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you—and he has four hundred men with him.” ⁷Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people with him into two camps, along with the flocks, herds, and camels. ⁸He thought, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining one can escape.”

⁹Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,’ ¹⁰I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. Indeed, I crossed over the Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹Please rescue me from my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children. ¹²You have said, ‘I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to be counted.’ ”

¹³He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶He entrusted them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, “Go on ahead of me, and leave some distance between the herds.”

¹⁷And he told the first one, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you?’ ¹⁸then tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And look, he is behind us.’ ”

¹⁹He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him. ²⁰You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

²¹So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night. ²²During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two slave women, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

Jacob compromised by making three bands out of his family. When you compromise before the enemy, you will even give away your family. That’s what the devil does to you. Jacob took his family, his cattle, and his earthly possessions and made three bands out of them.

He said, “All right, the first of you go on out and meet Esau. He is coming with 400 mighty men to kill me. When you see him, you bow down, compromise, scrape, eat the dust, give him these gifts, and tell him they are from his servant, Jacob.”

But Jacob wasn’t Esau’s servant. Esau was Jacob’s servant. You are not a servant to your circumstances. Remember, God has said: “Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19).

He has said:

“And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail” (Deuteronomy 28.13).

He has said:

“Thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath” (Deuteronomy 28:13).

He has said:

“The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways” (Deuteronomy 28:7).

Jacob thought, “When Esau kills the first band, the second band will be there, and when he kills the second, the third band will be there. I’ll put my wives and everyone else in front and I’ll march behind them.” But something happened when the angel helped Jacob to see the real picture. We are told that Jacob passed over before them (Genesis 33:3).

Now when Jacob took the lead and passed over before them to meet Esau, even though he thought he might die. Instead, Esau fell down before Jacob, put his arms around him, and said, “Jacob, I’m sorry for every evil thought I had about you. I’m sorry I ever tried to kill you.” He said, “I’m going to give you the honor to which God has raised you up. Will you forgive me?”

Now we see the truth of the situation. If only Jacob could have believed the promises of God, if he could have seen through spiritual eyes instead of eyes clouded by circumstances. When we do not see the truth of our situations — that the victory is won, that the battle, no matter whether it is physical, spiritual, or material is not ours but God’s — then we are filled with anxiety, unbelief, doubt, and fear — all the things that defeat us.

In Jacob’s case, the truth was that God went before him and took care of every circumstance. Every one! There was no need to compromise, no need to bow, no need to be afraid. If Jacob only had trusted the power which God had already given him. If only he had known and believed the truth of the situation, the victory was already won.

Make this declaration:

There is no need to compromise, bow to the demands of the enemy, or compromise. The victory is already won!

*Adapted from MCWE email – Journey Into The Promised Land by Morris Cerullo

The Truth Of The Situation – 11/19

Fulfilling Your Destiny

Journey Into The Promised Land