“Thou art my King O God: command deliverance for Jacob.”
Psalm 44:4
There are two things that need to be connected in this verse – God our King and Jacob.
Let me start with Jacob; a twin born to Isaac and Rebekah; his twin brother was called Esau. If you are familiar with the Bible, you will know that Esau was the hunter, the nature lover, and Jacob was the sheepherder for his dad.
Esau was the firstborn and Jacob came out of the womb with his hand on Esau’s foot as if he wanted to pull Esau back and come out first from the womb. The name, Jacob, means supplanter or deceiver, and he lived up to the definition of his name.
Esau came back home from a fruitless hunt, and he asked Jacob for something to eat. Jacob, seeing an opportunity to get the birthright bargained with his older twin – ‘sell me your birthright and I will feed you.’
Esau didn’t care about his birthright at that moment because he was hungry. [Hello – have we ever given in to the flesh and left the church too soon – not waiting for the blessing God has for us? We know He was speaking to us and moving in our heart, but we didn’t want to miss going with our friends for something to eat! The Bible says that Esau despised his birthright by responding to his physical needs more than his spiritual needs.]
But this story is about Jacob, not Esau. Jacob motivated by his scheming mother took advantage of a blind Isaac and stole the blessing that was to go to Esau. This was done while Esau was away on one of his hunting trips. You can read this story in Genesis 25 and 27. It was Jacobs’ desire for spiritual things that caused God to say, “Jacob I have loved, and Esau have I hated.” Malachi 1:1-3.
Later Jacob’s name was changed from Jacob (supplanter and schemer) to Israel (a prince with God) when he had a significant encounter with God. In Psalm 44 the name Jacob is used instead of Israel. The writer of Psalm 44 took the lowest identity – the name Jacob. Why? Because sometimes we live our lives more like Jacob than we do Israel, even though we are believers, saved, washed by the blood of Jesus, and have our name written in the Lambs’ Book of Life.
The thing that marks us as a Jacob is our desire to scheme, take back our life, try to live it by our strength but failing miserably because we don’t believe and live out the truth of Galatians 2:20. We are not allowing Christ Jesus to live the overcoming life in us.
The second connection needs to be made with God, the supreme ruler, and maker of all things. He is the highest of the high, the Lord of all, and the King of all Kings. You can not go higher than God; He is eternal, all-knowing, everywhere, all-powerful, full of mercy, grace, and love that cannot be measured. How can these two meet together in a powerful way?
According to verse 4 of Psalm 44, we (as Jacob) deserve nothing from God, but, have the privilege of making God our King. This begins when we invite Gods’ son, Jesus, into our life.
What makes us a Jacob, when we should be an Israel, can be several things such as unforgiveness, offenses, allowing the devil to steal from us, living like the world, and many other things that have built walls between us and God. How do we overcome when we are living like Jacob and not Israel?
The Psalmist prayed and asked this great King (God/Jesus) to command deliverance on our behalf. Let’s not think that we can get the victory by our strength or ability, it will not happen. [That’s the way of Jacob.]
Ask God to command it! If you are stuck in a poverty mindset, ask the King to command deliverance on your behalf. If you are carrying offenses in your heart that you can not get rid of, ask the King to command deliverance on your behalf. If you are sick and can not get over it, ask the King to command healing on your behalf. If there are walls in your life that you can not get around or leap over, ask the King to command deliverance on your behalf.
When our King commands deliverance we can be sure that it will happen, He has all authority and power. When you pray for others with all the faith you have but nothing happens then ask King Jesus to come into the picture and lay His hands on the person and breath life into them.
Just because we sometimes live like a Jacob let’s not forget that Jesus loves us with the deepest love possible. The Psalmist knew this truth; he didn’t ‘sugar-coat’ the Jacob part, he knew that our great King wanted to help us!
—Les Dueck
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