Encountering God in My Fear (option 2) | Genesis 32-33

What in your life causes you to fear? When I was a kid, I was a pretty fearful person...

When I was a kid, I was a pretty fearful person...

It started as a very young child with a fear of grass and sand… I grew out of that fairly quickly… but it progressed on to other fears…

I distinctly remember some sort of mutant buzzing moth thing that chased me around the yard once…

You probably don’t believe me… my parents didn’t either…

I remember that I was afraid of butterflies and moths when I was about 10 years old… [elaborate]

And I was afraid of butterflies and moths for a LONG time… I tried to get out of having to mow the lawn as a chore with that fear… it didn’t work…

I eventually grew out of that fear… when I was like 22…

I remember another one of my biggest fears when I was a kid was robbers… [elaborate]

Do you remember those ADT commercials where they are sitting in their living room watching TV and someone breaks into their home…

And THANKFULLY the security system goes off and the robber runs away...

That commercial became a controlling fear in my life as a kid...

So I wonder what causes YOU to fear? My guess is that your fears (like mine) have matured beyond butterflies and robbers...

But that’s the tricky thing about fear… there are some pretty big things we can be afraid of...

Maybe you fear losing a certain possession… your home or something that is really important to you...

Big Idea: When I truly encounter God, he conquers my fear with his presence.

Maybe you fear losing a person… a parent or a spouse or a child…

Maybe you fear losing approval… of a boss or a friend… or even God.

And at the root of fear is a loss of a sense of security… I feel like I NEED this thing or this person in my life so that I can be secure in life…

And I’ll do ANYTHING to make sure that I keep it… I’ll do ANYTHING to calm my fears…

Now let me follow that up with another question:

Now let me follow that up with another question:

When faced with fear, what do you do? Do you ultimately trust God? Or do you take matters into your own hands?

Be honest with yourself…

I think a lot of times we KNOW what the right answer to that is supposed to be… but if we are honest, our go-to response is very often to take matters into our own hands.

And YET… God wants us to encounter HIM in the midst of our fears…  that’s the title of today’s message: Encountering God in my fear...

says 

“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” ( ESV)  

God wants us to understand that he is WITH US in the midst of our fears.

He is ACTIVE in our lives… and he wants us to learn to rely on HIM to give us everything we need.

He wants us to ENCOUNTER HIM and learn to trust him.

We are in our series, “Encounters with God,” and we are learning what it looks like to encounter the living God together.

Who is this God we encounter? And how can I know if I have truly encountered him?

So today we want to see THIS effect of encountering God:

Big Idea: When I truly encounter God, he conquers my fear with his presence.

Today, we are going to be studying Genesis chapter 32 and 33 (may sound like a lot… but it’s one big story…)

[Give Context] We’re going to see a guy named Jacob in a situation where he is afraid… and MOST of his life, Jacob has been one to take matters into his own hands in those situations…

Struggling in the womb… tricking Esau for the birthright… tricking Isaac into giving him the blessing of the firstborn… running from Laban…

Again and again God working in SPITE of Jacob’s self-centered, faithless decisions...

God encounters Jacob in the midst of Jacob’s foolishness and fear… and he changes him…

So as we get into , want you to see…

3 Ways We Need to Encounter God in Our Fear:

The first is this:

1) Meditate on God’s Promises in Prayer (32:1-21)

Explain as you read:

Meeting with Angels - Strengthening, encouraging

Meeting with Angels

Still fearful… (isn’t that the way life is… it takes MANY encounters with God…)

The prayer… this is a great prayer! It recalls the encounter Jacob had in a vision as he left this land to go to Haran…

In that vision, there was a Ladder, with angels ascending and descending...

And recounts this promise… “And behold, the Lord stood above [the ladder] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”” (, ESV)

The prayer recalls God’s promise… and he does it so humbly… “I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant...”

This is the type of prayer we NEED in the midst of our fears…

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

But then it’s interesting… Jacob does not simply pray… he also acts…

The activity… based on that prayer, not sure if this activity is wise or unwise… is Jacob being self-protective, or just righteously cautious…

I’m sort of leaning toward the side of righteously cautious...

It is not always WRONG to mix prayer and activity… the important thing is that the faith-filled prayer wins out in our fearful hearts.

Prayer needs to shape our activity of making plans. The plans must not shape our prayer.

And yet, we will see in chapter 33, that this activity proved to be unnecessary…

Illustrate: So let me ask you: when you are faced with fear, do you rush to activity, or do you rush to prayer?

And possibly even more important: which wins out in your heart: the plans you make or the prayers you pray?

Think about that fear that I asked you to get in your head at the beginning of the sermon: when that fear comes… do you frantically try to make everything “work,” or do you rest your soul in prayer, recounting the promises of God?

Apply: Meditate on God’s promises in prayer.

Understand God’s promises and priorities for believers… and then recount them in prayer.

Go back to our study in 1 Peter or get really familiar with the book of Romans… and understand God’s promises there (IN CONTEXT)… and then PRAY, seeking God’s will to be done in your life, trusting that he works for the genuine ETERNAL good of his children.

Recount who you are as God’s child if you have embraced him by faith.

I have a list in my computer of things that are true about you if you have been united to Christ by faith.

Email me this week if you want that list.

Get familiar with God’s promises for his children… and then PRAY those things.

Make prayer your priority… not just asking for things… but recounting who God is and what he has done...

GC Spirit-led, scripture-fed, worship-based prayer… that kind of prayer sets our hearts...

Don’t just act… act prayerfully

Don’t just act… act prayerfully

Realize that in all your action, God is going to be the primary worker.

Jacob’s actions prove to be unnecessary… but his prayer is essential.

I believe Jacob’s prayer is what gives way to this most-famous encounter with God in Jacob’s life that we are going to read about next…

Because prayer leads us to...

2) Make room to embrace God (32:22-32)

Explain:

Left alone… probably felt MORE vulnerable… nothing else to fall back on...

A man shows up to wrestle him… all night… who is this attacker?

Goes quite a few rounds… but then in a moment… at a chosen time… he puts Jacob’s hip out of socket…

Excruciatingly painful… completely debilitating…

Illustrate [at verse 26]: Wrestling my boys… controlled strength.

Wrestling is a way that we express our relationship...

Every once in a while, they get bold and say something like, “I’m going to tackle you to the ground and win!!!”

Or if I’m laying on the ground, they automatically THINK they’ve won...

And in that instant, I will ALWAYS put them in their place… make sure they know who is stronger…

I believe that’s what God just did with Jacob…

Explain v. 26:

I imagine Jacob now instead of wrestling… just clinging to the shoulders of this man...

Jacob still holds on… now from a position of weakness… and he only wants ONE thing: the blessing of this powerful being… I think he’s beginning to understand who this is…

He’s holding on from a position of WEAKNESS... and he only wants ONE thing: the blessing of this powerful being… I think he’s beginning to understand who this is…

Wrestling is a way that we express our relationship...

Every once in a while, they get bold and say something like, “I’m going to tackle you to the ground and win!!!”

Or if I’m laying on the ground, they automatically THINK they’ve won...

And in that instant, I will ALWAYS put them in their place… make sure they know who is stronger…

I’ve heard people in the past say, “I’m just like Jacob… I have to wrestle with God. That’s just my personality. And I won’t let God go until he blesses me.”

That’s not the point of this passage.

Jacob’s encounter with God is not an excuse for you to be self-willed and stubborn-minded.

Jacob’s encounter with God is to show that God is willing to BREAK his people in order to bring them ultimate BLESSING… in order to bring them himself.

Explain v. 27-32

We find ultimate blessing when GOD WINS… we need God to BREAK US so that he can bless us…

Apply: The sooner you surrender the fight with God… but still hold on and embrace him… the sooner you can see his purposes play out in your life…

Jacob needed this encounter with God because he needed to learn how to embrace God.

He didn’t need to learn how to fight God or to endure 10 rounds against God…

He didn’t get one over on God…

He needed to understand that God always wins… and we win when God wins over us.

You have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.

And as we make room for God in our lives, we need to...

Embrace his breaking.

When God allows something fearful into our lives, it’s often because he is removing all of those things that get in the way… he’s removing all of the things that bring us a false or temporary sense of security…

He’s getting everything out of the way so that we would have room for the glory of God in our lives.

I wonder if God is breaking and removing anything in YOUR life right now so that you would encounter him…

A job… a relationship… a physical provision… something in your health… a sense of independence…

If you have experienced LOSS, I can guarantee you this: God wants to come and fill that space.

Embrace his blessing.

It was the presence of God that changed Jacob from deceiver to “God fights.”

The blessing of God is God himself.

God wants to bless his children.

He wants to draw near in their lives and encounter them in their fears and insecurities and anxieties… And he wants to offer us himself.

And he wants to offer us himself.

That was what he did in the person of Jesus [SHARE GOSPEL]

God wants to draw near in the lives of his children and encounter them in their fears and insecurities and anxieties… and he wants to offer us himself.

And he wants to offer us himself.

That’s doesn’t always look like we want it to… for Jacob it meant being broken of his self-sufficiency...

And for us, it doesn’t mean the easy life we want… or being blessed with health and wealth...

God’s goal is not to fulfill our own personal destinies...

HE has a plan… and WE are blessed when we encounter our purpose in his plan...

For Jacob, that plan was literally to FATHER God’s nation of Israel...

God’s people would receive their name from this encounter...

It was about something so much bigger than Jacob’s personal security...

And so we need to understand that the blessing of God is God himself.

Even more than dealing with the thing that is making us afraid in this moment, God wants to show us that his plan is BIGGER than our fears.

No matter what we are afraid of… if we have GOD with us… if we have SEEN HIS FACE… then we win.

In the midst of our fears… that’s the thing that we need to understand...

No matter what we are afraid of… if we have GOD with us… if we have SEEN HIS FACE… then we win.

We win when God wins over us.

The sun rose… Jacob has seen God face to face… he’s got the limp to prove it… it’s a constant reminder of his inability but God’s ability… he’s now ready to face his fears.

Here’s the 3rd way we encounter God in our fears:

3) March forward with confidence (33:1-20)

Explain:

V. 1-2 summarize what has already happened… just getting us back to that plot line…

God already took care of Esau’s heart in ways that Jacob could not imagine.

Illustrate: Have you ever had a moment like that… where you were all afraid of something… and then you get into it, and it’s like God has miraculously taken care of it better than you could have ever taken care of it?

I think the story of us being in this building today is an example of that.

I had some fears…

And it needed a bunch of other exhaust work done too… and the whole bill was going to be north of $1200...

We had already been through a bad experience in the past sharing a building with another church...

And so I said, “Go ahead and do it… it’s my only option...”

I didn’t think it could possibly work that the folks up at Zion would embrace us with love… I was prepared for some battles...

And in the meantime, I was praying… and

We were a little afraid of how the theological differences would work out...

And they called back a few hours later… and they said it’s done… and I said, “How much?” And they said $569. The issue with the check engine light was related to the exhaust issues, not the catalytic converter.”

God had it taken care of.

But we prayed… and we drew near to God… and we marched forward with confidence...

And for this year… as we can see it now… he has worked things out FAR better than we could have imagined.

Apply

Once we have meditated on God’s promises in prayer… and once we have made room to embrace God… we need to march forward with confidence.

Fear can be crippling in our lives.

There have been times in my life when I have been nearly debilitated by my fears. And the ONLY way I can keep going is by having an encounter with God…

by meditating on his promises…

by making room to embrace him…

and then by marching forward with confidence to watch him do what only HE can do.

  “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (, ESV)  

  “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (, ESV)