Genesis 33:11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.
I believe it is Warren Wiersbe who said, “Faith is living without scheming.” It is amazing how miserable life is when we try to make everything happen on our own, when our main question in any turn of events is, “What about me?” I don’t think it is wrong to plan, to work hard, to save, or to have some goal in life, but life is easier on your heart when it is not in your hands.
Jacob had been a schemer and a manipulator, and by “manipulator” I mean that he took his own life “in his hands.” When you speak of “manual labor” you are speaking of labor that is done with the hands. When you speak of a “manual transmission” you are talking about one you engage with your hands. Likewise, when we speak of Jacob being a manipulator, we are saying that he tried to scheme and take everything into his own hands.
It was evidence that something had happened to Jacob, though, when he met his brother Esau for the first time in a long time. Jacob had wrestled with the Lord. God had changed his name from Jacob to Israel, which means “a prince with God.” The Bible says, “And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men.”
Both these men had changed. As they embraced as brothers, Jacob said to Esau, “Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.” Something had happened. He said, “God hath dealt graciously with me.” Now, instead of scheming to get something from Esau, Jacob was endeavoring to give something. Part of that was Jacob’s realization that God had dealt graciously with him. He said, “I have enough.”
Can you say that today? Can you say, “I have enough”? I am not saying it is wrong to have goals, financial or otherwise, and to work hard to meet those goals. But to leave God out of that amounts to little more than scheming.
Esau asked, “Who are those with thee?” Jacob answered, “The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.” There was a change inasmuch as Jacob realized that these blessings were not things he had gotten by scheming. They were things which God had graciously given to him. It is almost the definition of futility to scheme for or steal something that God would give. Jacob had essentially stolen the birthright and blessing that God was planning to give to him.
At the end of this chapter the Bible says that Jacob erected an altar which he called El-elohe-israel, which means “God, the God of Israel.” “Israel” here did not mean a family or nation. Jacob, or Israel, meant himself; the name of Jacob was now Israel. It meant “He is my God,” not just “He is the God of my father Abraham.” Jacob was saying, “This is my God.”
There needs to come a time in your life when you realize that “this God is my God.” Life is easier on your heart when it is not in your hands. Do your part, but realize that generosity and peace of mind are the result of knowing that you can place your life in God’s hand.