Prayer Day 2011: Enough or Enough

Rev. H. Hofman, Jr., Sioux Center, IA

What is enough for one person may not be enough for someone else. How clearly this is evident from the exchange of words when Jacob meets Esau. There is an apparent similarity and yet a striking difference between the use of the word enough by Esau and Jacob. It shows us how two people may say the same thing but mean something entirely different.

Let us compare both statements. What is enough for Esau? For Esau it was enough that he was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. For Esau everything was enough as long as he had his food and drink on time. “Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint.” His birthright didn’t mean much to him. “What profit shall this birthright do to me?” Esau found enough in the literal content of the blessing he obtained from his father Isaac: the fatness of the earth, the dew of heaven from above, as well as what would come to him from the sword. “Let us eat and let us drink for tomorrow we die.” Literally, Esau said, “I have much,” that is to say, “Here is to my abundance.” I have enough and so much that I have no need for more—no need for a spiritual blessing and no need for divine intervention—no need for a sacrifice, no need for a Mediator between God and man, and no need for reconciliation with God.

How have we come to observe Prayer Day this year? Many people think and live like Esau. How was it for us in the time between Thanksgiving and Prayer Day? Many church people say with Esau, “Keep that thou hast unto thyself.” We are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. The church may remain what she is, the ministers may preach, the elders may read, but don’t come too close to me. I have enough. I am doing just fine with my house, my income, and my prosperity.

Reader, are you like Esau? Maybe you have many texts you can quote. Perhaps you have wonderful stories to tell. Maybe you are of a sound doctrine and live a decent life and much more. You are not as other men are, certainly not like that publican in the back of the temple, but I ask you, “Have you no more?” Then your portion is no more than Esau’s portion. “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

Jacob also said, “I have enough.” When we look at the history, we may well wonder how Jacob could have said this. One trial followed upon the other. No sooner had Laban departed than Esau came to meet Jacob with four hundred men. There seemed to be no end to it. Is it never enough, Lord? Perhaps there is a poor, afflicted reader who reads this and recognizes the fear, the trial, the anguish, the hopelessness, and the terror. Battles without and fears within. Can this go together with grace? In light of so many visits of the Lord in the past, Jacob may have often wondered, “Am I in the way and the favor of the Lord?” At Bethel the Lord had appeared, and at Mahanaim the angels of God had met him. There were signs that clearly indicated that the Lord showed Jacob the way, but circumstances made him believe otherwise. We read in Genesis 32:7, “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.”

If Jacob would now seek counsel of himself, it is very well possible that the outcome would be—turn around, go back! What if Esau remembers the past? Oh, that conflict between letting Jehovah lead and Jacob’s calculations. What a thin line there can be between helping the Lord or allowing one to be helped, raising the question, “Where does the flesh end and the Spirit begin?” Is there someone who recognizes this conflict around Prayer Day? There are so many obstacles in the way. There are more questions than answers, more riddles than solutions for land and people, church and state, family and church life. Then it is enough but in a different sense: enough affliction, enough strife, enough despair. Spiritually, it is so barren—so much decrease instead of increase, so many attacks, so much discontentment, so much fear and anguish. Dear afflicted friend, it is not because God does wrong but because you do not trust that what He does is good.

Nevertheless, facing Esau, Jacob says, “I have enough.” What appears to be the same word is a world, yes, an eternity of difference. Literally, the Hebrew says, “I have all” that is, “It is all to me.” What Jacob’s all consists of we can find recorded in Genesis 32; at the height of trouble Jacob first resorts to prayer. That is where he may say it all. At the height of trial, where he pours out all his soul, Jacob appeals to the God of his fathers. He displays lofty faith, profound humility, and beautiful simplicity. Jacob appeals to the covenant made in days of old with Abraham and Isaac. He casts himself before the Lord in prayer, and it becomes Prayer Day for an unworthy, unfit, vulnerable, weak, helpless, unprotected sinner before God. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6).

Jacob also pleads upon a firm pleading ground, “And Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.” We see him pleading upon the Lord’s covenant-faithfulness. Oh, to plead upon the Lord’s own word, spoken with power and authority. In light of that covenant, Jacob becomes less than all the mercies shown. That means, everything God gave was better and bigger than he. Then the Lord has done things right, and He can no longer do any wrong.

What a precious place to be at on Prayer Day. Matthew Henry writes, “Times of fear should be times of prayer.” Well, Jacob does so. He approaches unto God, the God of his father Abraham and Isaac—not to Laban’s teraphim, nor to the angels who met him at Mahanaim but to God Himself. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146:5). Jacob may have enough. The God of Jacob is his help even though there may be a season ahead which is hedged about with thorns, and affliction is his portion and adversity his lot instead of prosperity. Though the fig tree shall not blossom and there be no herd in the stalls and the field shall yield no meat, he has enough in God—enough in Jesus, enough in His provision both for time and eternity. I pray that you may have enough of this provision for the coming season.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen