Nothing is more devastating to an athlete, an artist, a corporation or a church than to be making progress in a particular area and then to be overwhelmed with a sense of pride and complacency. We tend to rest on our laurels and fail to press for greater growth and maturity.

The same principle applies to the matter of security. Christians are forever secure in the salvation of Jesus Christ, but there is a complacency which can be destructive and counter-productive in our spiritual lives. We can wrong conclude that eternal security means there is no need to press on, no urgency and no imminent danger in our Christian experience. Ironically, the moment we feel secure, we are in the greatest danger. When we become aloof to the intensity of the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged and start to ignore the enemy who seeks to destroy us, we are beginning to fall into the enemy's grip. This is all too common for Christians, as Jacob illustrated.

Jacob expected the worst when his brother was coming his way, but once the danger passed, he became forgetful of the divine command and his own vow to return to Bethel. A false sense of security made Jacob careless in his actions and brought him to a point of very grave spiritual and physical anger. Except for the questionable actions of his sons and the providence of God, Jacob coudl ahve been virtually destroyed.

We modern American Christians have been lulled into a false sense of security by our comfortable and easy way of life. Americans live in a nearly cradle-to-grave protective shell, never wondering when our next meal will come or where we will sleep tomorrow night. Christians can feel even more comfortable because of pre-Tribulation theology that teaches that that we won't be around the face the really bad times anyway because Christians will be raptured before then. Some, believing this, begin to live carelessly and find ourselves in danger of some serious spiritual defeats. We can learn much from Jacob about how to avoid complacency and over-confidence in our spiritual walk.

Please read Genesis 33:1-16 for the text of Jacob and Esau's meeting. It would seem that the moment the wrestling match with the Angel ended, Jacob saw Esau coming. He immediately moved to the very vanguard of his entourage, reasoning that it was him whom Esau hated, so any harm done should fall on him first. As Jacob went out to meet his brother, he genuflected repeatedly in a token of his newly found humility.

As a writer, I can imagine this scene. Esau perhaps rode up rapidly to Jacob. Leaping from his mount, he ran toward his brother while Jacob watched with great anxiety, gaze fixed upon the weapons Esau carried. How shocked, how stiff he must have been when Esau wrapped him in a warm and tender embrace with tears of genuine joy. To his great relief, Jacob realized that Esau had come as a forgiving friend and brother rather than an avenging foe.

They talked over family and then turned their attention to the droves of livestock. Jacob reiterated that these were a gift, an expression of love. Esau tried to politely refuse the gift as unnecessary, but Jacob persisted and prevailed.

"No, please take them," Jacob said. "If I have found favor in your sight, accept my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, it is as if I have seen the face of God." Genesis 33:10

Jacob had learned very recently that to prevail with God was also to prevail with men. Now Esau had welcomed him with open arms, Jacob saw God's protection in the face of his brother. The one was the result of the other. God, not Esau, had been the obstacle to Jacob's entry into Canaan. Now that he had prevailed with God by means of petition and clinging to Him in faith, Esau was no longer a foe, but a friend.

Esau is a magnificent picture of graciousness and forgiveness. In remarkable similarity to the words of teh father of the prodigal son at his return (Luke 15:20), Esau accepted Jacob's generous gifts and offered to accompany his brother on the journey to Canaan. Jacob appreciated the offer, but explaiend that he could not travel as the same pace as Esau. His entourage were women, children and flocks, not men at arms. Esau still offered an escort for the journey, but Jacob turned it down, assuring Esau that all he wanted was his brother's favor. Esau failed to recognize that Jacob had resorted to his old habit of deception. He said he would meet Esau at Seir, but it seems he had no intention of actually doing so. The disasterous results of Jacob's side trip would indicate that Jacob took another wrong turn in life.

Jacob traveled to Succoth and built a farm there. This was, in a very real sense, a step backward for Jacob. Geographically, Succoth was in the opposite direction from Seir, and more importantly, from Bethel, where Jacob had been instructed to return. Moses did not provide a reason for Jacob's move, but we can make some guesses. Jacob may not have been eagar to face Isaac who he had deceived and from who he must seek forgiveness. Jacob may not have wanted to spend much time in close proximity to Esau, who seemed quite able to protect his own interests. Jacob had promised God a tithe when he returned to Bethel, so he may have been reluctant to part with some of his prosperity. Finally, the most practical reason is that the Jordan Valley where Succoth was located is far superior pasturage than the mountainous area around Bethel.

More distressing than the direction of Jacob’s travels was the duration of his stay at Succoth. Historians say that Dinah could not have been older than 6 or 7 when Jacob left Paddan-aram, but by the time Jacob moved to Shechem, she was of marriageable age, which would have been at least 12 or 13. Several years must, therefore, have passed between the meeting of Jacob and Esau and the events of chapter 34. Some of those must have passed at Succoth, where Jacob built a house and became a settler rather than a sojourner.

We are not given any reason for Jacob’s departure from Succoth to Shechem. All Moses told us was that Jacob arrived "safely" at the city of Shechem (verse 18). His camping near the city is reminiscent of Lot’s ever closer attachment to the city of Sodom, until he was a citizen. Again, Jacob did not appear to be a man passing through, for he purchased a piece of property from a man whose name he would some day like to forget.

Outwardly, Jacob appears to have been a religious man like Abraham. He built an altar, for example. However, while Abraham built altars "to the Lord" and both he and Isaac called upon the name of the Lord in worship, Jacob built his altar when he got around to it, as if it were a religious formality rather than an act of faith. It is extremely difficult to worship God where we are not supposed to be.

Jacob's daughter Dinah struck up a friendship with some of the girls in Shechem, which drew attention from an admirer, named Shechem, who was the son of Hamor, the man Jacob bought land from. While she was alone, Shechem raped her. The rape was an abomination, but the boy claimed to love Dinah and want to marry her. His father sought to assuage the rage of Dinah's brothers by stressing Shechem's great love for her and noting that such a marriage would pave the way for many other benefits. They could marry Canaanite women, for example, and engage in local business more easily. Hamor was willing to pay any dowry to appease they rage.

Jacob's sons were not content with such an offer, but they were willing to exact revenge in a different way.

"Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully when they spoke because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah. They said to them, "We cannot give our sister to a man who is not circumcised, for it would be a disgrace to us. We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our daughters to marry, and we will take your daughters as wives for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people. But if you do not agree to our terms by being circumcised, then we will take our sister and depart." Genesis 34:13-17

To me, it's odd that these words are attributed to Jacob's sons rather than Dinah's brothers, but it may be that Moses was calling attention to their deceit. They had learned well from their father. The only concession Jacob's sons required could only be declined with great difficulty. Circumcision would unite the Canaanites with the Israelites so that intermarriage would be acceptable and permissible. If this rite were not followed, then no intermarriage could take place.

Of course, circumcision would physically incapacitate the Canaanites, making the slaughter of Hamor, Shechem adn all the inhabitants of the city much easier to accomplish. There is no defense for what they proposed.

Jacob’s silence is even more evil than his sons’ schemes. His sons proposed intermarriage with the Canaanites only as a means to induce them to be circumcised so that they could be overcome more easily. Jacob silently and passively accepted the agreement with the people of Shechem, fully expecting to carry it out. Jacob planned to allow his descendants to intermarry with the Canaanites, but his sons had no such intention. Jacob, in comparison with his sons, was even more guilty than they! His willingness to allow this intermarriage was not only contrary to the purposes ad promises of God in the Abrahamic covenant, but it is also a direct violation of the instructions which his father had given him in Genesis 28:1-4.

On good faith, Hamor and Shechem went to their fellow citizens and convinced them to comply with the proposal of Jacob’s sons. It seemed a reasonable offer and Shechem was eager to have the marriage performed. The other men of the city were convinced on financial grounds. A temporary inconvenience would eventually offer substantial profits. What was the downside?

Little did the people of Shechem realize the intentions of Dinah’s brothers, whose anger could not be appeased by anything less than the revenge of blood. Weakened by their circumcision, the men of the city were virtually helpless when attacked by Simeon and Levi. They killed every male, and the rest of their brothers were quick to share in the spoils. All of their wealth along with the women and children was taken.

The shallowness of Jacob’s stern rebuke was exposed by his sons response: "Should he treat our sister as a harlot?" The issue of morality had never been raised by Jacob. Granted, the sons’ deception and destruction hardly seems moral, but they had some sense of the abomination that had taken place concerning their sister, while Jacob was strangely silent and passive on this point.

Reviewing Jacob's life is interesting. Whenever he was in the greatest danger, God was with him. As he fled Esau's wrath, he met God in Bethel. While hotly pursued by his frustrated father-in-law, God curtailed Laban's plans with a warning. Upon returning to face his brother, Jacob met a host of angels. In truth, Jacob was always safest when his life seemed in greatest peril.

On the other hand, he was never in greater danger than when he felt safe. Jacob felt safest when hsi brother was out of sight, yet Esau would have provided him with an escort of armed and loyal men. Jacob felt secure when his cattle coud feed on the lush grass of Succoth, near the city of the Canaanites, where his daughter was raped.

Most of us are inclined to trust God and obey Him when we sense grave danger and feel that our only hope is in God. Sadly, we all tend to slack up on our diligence and devotion when things are going smoothly. We think we can handle the easy times by ourselves and let God handle the crises. Most Christians are foxhole Christians.

The Israelites learned a powerful lesson from reading this as they were about to enter the land of Canaan. Their only security was in God. Their greatest danger in the promised land was not the size of the inhabitants or their military prowess, but in becoming carelessly complacent about spiritual purity and resisting false pride. Of course, they had the powerful memory of being trapped between the Red Sea and the soldiers of Egypt and discovering they were perfectly safe because they were where God wanted them to be.

The great danger for Israel was what would happen once they were in the land. During the years in which they wandered in the desert, they were, humanly speaking, in a most dangerous situation, but God miraculously provided for them and used those circumstances to teach them that the most important matters of life were not food and drink, but obedience to the will of God and the keeping of His word (Deuteronomy 8:1-6). The greatest danger which Israel would ever face was not the persecution of the Egyptians, for that kept them pure. The greatest danger Israel would face was their prosperity and apparent security once they possessed the land (Deuteronomy 8:11-18).

Man’s security has always been in God, and in God alone. This is not just a New Testament truth; it is an eternal truth. There is no security in the "arm of the flesh," only in the "arm of Jehovah." If we trust in our own devices, we are exceedingly vulnerable. If we trust in God, we are invincible.

The slaughter of the Canaanites by the sons of Jacob, while done in deception, was a necessity. Had Simeon and Levi not slaughtered the men of this city, Jacob’s sons and daughters would have intermarried. Jacob had already consented to it, viewing their friendliness and openness as an evidence of safety and security. In reality, it was the opposite. The willingness of the Canaanites to adopt Jacob, the Israelites, and their religion into their way of life would have defiled the purity which God required for this race. While Jacob did not take such activity as defiling and disgraceful, his sons did, agreeing with God. Later He would instruct the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites due to their depravity and decay (Deuteronomy 20:17-18). From this incident in the life of Jacob the Israelites could see the consequences of cohabitation with the Canaanites.

Safety is not something we can provide for ourselves. We are never secure apart from God. Every non-believer must be warned of this truth (Acts 4:12). Safety comes only from God (Psalm 4:8). The true believer is most secure when he/she is follow the Word of God (Proverbs 1:33). Safety is not the absence of danger, but the acknowledgment of it and subsequent turning to God for protection (Daniel 3:13). Times of apparent safety which lead to complacency are occasions when danger is greatest. Real dangers are most often not seen by human eyes because they are spiritual in nature, including unbelief, apathy, carnality, compromise and complacency. This is why Christians are urged to be on the alert, attentive to dangers that are always present, especially in times of prosperity and peace (1Corinthians 10:12; 1Thessalonians 5:3-6; 1Peter 5:8; Revelation 3:17).

The trials and sufferings of life look very differnet in the light of these truths. Life's trials are not given by God for our destruction, but for our defense. They cause us to cling ever closer to Him Who gives us strength in times of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). The trials of life are God's gift of grace (Philippians 1:29), intended by a loving Father to strengthen our faith (Hebrews 12:7-13).

I think most Christians in America prefer to dwell in comfort and complacency rather than to live on the cutting edge of Christianity. Like Jacob, most of us prefer peace to purity, prosperity to piety, and safety to spirituality. The commands and principles of the New Testament, like the laws of the Old, were designed to cause us to live on the cutting edge of life. This is why Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor. The man could not trust both God and money. Money isn't evil by itself, but trusting in it for security is (1Timothy 6:17). God desires to remove anything from our lives which stands in the way of our total trust in Him.

While noting that many Christians avoid God's way, I also believe that many Christians desire to live the kind of life God intends for us to live. Doing so is intensely simple -- trust and obey. Trust leads to obedience to the will and Word of God. Obeying the Word of God forces us to trust in Him to provide for our every need. To rely on one or the other is to backslide and become lost from God's true path.