Genesis31:17-32:12
We often speak of man’s pursuit of God. It is a desire to know God better, to be in His will, to find His blessings. It is a hunger for God. A.W. Tozer wrote a classic book about this entitled The Pursuit of God. Have we considered, however, the other side of this story — God’s pursuit of man.
This passage in Genesis opens for us an intensifying glimpse of how God pursued one particular man — Jacob. By “pursuit” I do not mean that God had lost Jacob and now seeks to find him. Rather, God is very much aware of Jacob’s location but is in pursuit of his life, his devotion, and his character — his heart.
Jacob had always been a schemer. He was shrewd but unethical. He sought his own personal advantage at the expense of others. This kept him in continual trouble. So he would have to flee. He ran from his brother Esau. Then he ran from his father-in-law Laban. But the noose keeps getting tighter.
In this passage, he gathers his entire family and flees from Laban under the cover of night. But, Laban pursues and catches his son-in-law. As you can imagine, it is a tense moment. It could have gone really bad. But, they reach something of a stand-off and part ways saying, in essence, “don’t pass this boundary again. I don’t want to see you again.”
As Jacob now leads his family back toward the old home place, he gets word that Esau, the brother he swindled, is coming to meet him with 400 men. Once again, it doesn’t look good for Jacob.
Have you ever felt that God was putting pressure on you in certain areas? Have you ever felt that God was somehow orchestrating circumstances around you to teach you a lesson? or perhaps to speak to you in some way and give you direction?
The beginning of the great transformation for Jacob comes in the prayer he prays in Gen. 32:9-12. It is the prayer of a man who has run out of options and now must throw himself on God. This is a really good place to be, even though it might be scary. God is very close to those who cry out from a sincere heart (see Ps. 51:16-17).