This is Jacob's main problem now which is fear, a mental attitude sin, characterized by him being filled with panic and especially double-mindedness.
Fear was a result of Adam's first sin and guilt in the garden of Eden.
Exo 14:13-14, Moses said to believers who were freaking out under pressure, "Fear not, be still and see the deliverance of the Lord, the Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace"
In Deu 31:8 also tells us that fear is not a part of God's plan, "And the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed."
Isa 41:10, "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
Fear will manifest itself by worry, anxiety, insecurity, and nervousness.
Fear destroys the believer's ability to think, to reason, to apply doctrine under the pressure, and to advance in the circumstances of life.
Fear then, is total disorientation to the plan of God.
Fear destroys any personal sense of destiny.
"Lack of fear" is a part of the relaxed mental attitude that believers with doctrine enjoy.
Heb 11:27, "By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Moses left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen."
Moses knew the principle of Heb 13;6, "the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man may do to me."
In Psa 56:3-4, "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee "In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid, what can mere man do to me?"
Jer 23:4 "I shall also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the Lord.
Isa 35:4 "Say to those with anxious heart, take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, and He will deliver you."
Deu 20:1 "When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you."
Neh 4:14 "When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: "do not be afraid; remember the Lord who is great and awesome,
Or Jos 1:9 "have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
For the mature believer, in Psa 112:7, "He will not fear evil tidings or bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord."
Job was a righteous man and a man with integrity, and he still had to deal with certain fears!
Even if you have fear in your life, the principle of cursing turned to blessing holds true.
In Gen 32:9-12, fear of Esau drove Jacob to humble himself and seek for God.
In Luk 8:50, fear of his child dying drove a man to seek the Lord.
In Mat 8:26, fear drove the disciples to run to the Lord and wake Him up.
As PSA 34:4 says "I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears."
In Mat 14:30, Peter walked on water but he became afraid and began to sink, however fear also caused him to cry out "Lord save me."
Fear is lack of trust and respect toward God.
Once you are secure in the love that God has for you, you're not afraid of anything whereby you need promises, for now you know the One who makes the promises.
ROM 14:23 and whatever is not from faith is sin.
If you are dependent upon God and His integrity, then having fear is not only an insult to God, but it is blasphemous and sinful.
He could receive the doctrinal comfort that God was with him.
He says, "Go tell my lord Esau that his servant Jacob is here."
But doctrine says, Jacob is to be the lord of Esau and Esau is to serve his brother.
GEN 25:23 And the Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples shall be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger."
First, he says Lord deliver me then he gets right back up from his prayer and falls back on human solutions!
He prays that God would help and then he goes right out to try and help himself with human power.
Do you believe Heb 4:16 "Let us be approaching the throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and acquire grace with reference to seasonable help."
Or Jer 33:3 "Call upon Me and I will show you great and might things which you have not discovered."
Do you believe PSA 50:15 And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me."
Do you believe LUK 11:9 "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
LUK 11:10 "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
Or MAT 21:22 "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive."
Do you believe JOH 14:13-14, "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
Or Joh 15:7 "Ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you."
Or Phi 4:6‑7 "Stop worrying about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Mar 11:24 "Therefore, I say to you, `All things for which you ask and pray, believe that you shall receive them, and they will be given to you.'"
You see, with the prayer said, instead of trusting God, Jacob again tried to manipulate the situation himself.
Prin-Any solution you have to your problems apart from doctrine is a manifestation of both arrogance and irrationality.
Second prin-Divine solutions are the only solutions and human solutions are no solutions.
Third prin-Fear sees the problem; a personal sense of destiny sees the solution.
Fourth prin-Since problem solving is a major function of the spiritual life of the Church, all divine solutions are related to the problem solving devices in your soul.
Fifth prin-You were designed to be spiritually independent of human solutions in life.
There's nowhere in scripture that says that Esau was coming to kill him.
After all these plans of fear, beginning with verse 24, we have a subtle and a sneak attack by TLJC.
It's not until Jacob is left alone with the Lord that his named is changed to Israel, a prince with God.
As David said in PSA 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Being alone with God is the beginning of becoming spiritually self-sustained.
For example, In 2CH 32:31, God left Hezekiah "alone to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart."
In JOH 8:9, it wasn't until the woman caught in adultery was left alone with the Lord that she was set free.
Prin-To be left alone with God is the only true way of arriving at an accurate knowledge of ourselves and our ways.
No matter what we may think about ourselves, or what others may think about us, the real question is what does God think about us?
This is one of the things that David said in PSA 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.
In JER 12:3 But Thou knowest me, O Lord; Thou seest me; And Thou dost examine my heart's attitude toward Thee.
2CO 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!
When a believer objectively examines his own life according to doctrine, he is alone with God.
He must be stripped from his own strength, lamed and made to limp.
He has Uncle Laban in back of him who took total advantage of him and he has his brother Esau ahead of him who he thinks is going to kill him.
First, a man wrestles with Jacob and does not prevail.
Secondly, Jacob struggles with the man and does prevail.
- Jacob needed to have his "human-strength" beaten out of him.
- Jacob has been relying on human strength, human power, human viewpoint, human gimmicks, to try and get blessings in life as well as to solve his problems.
- Jacob needed to be made conscious of his standing with God so that he would stop conniving, plotting, scheming, and using human solutions to try and solve his problems.
- God initiates this wrestling match which ends in the defeat of the old Jacob.