Proverbs 16:7 says, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” We saw in Jacob today a man that by God-given right could have demanded that he receive what is due him, namely the subservience of his brother and the land which God had given him. Instead, Jacob chooses to humble himself before God and man. Even though he feared greatly, Jacob did not cower or run from his problems. He approached them with a humble reliance on God. His humility did not negate his fears but it allowed him to face Esau and 400 men who had come out for his destruction. Humility is not the same as cowardice. Humility is not weakness. Jesus was our perfect example of this. He had a humble boldness that disarmed his enemies and left them dumbfounded. He humbled himself even to death on a cross and yet in that very act triumphed over sin. You see God has put humility and his strength together. “The LORD lifts up the humble,” Psalm 147:6. “For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation,” Psalm 149:4. “To the humble he gives favor,” Proverbs 3:34. “With the humble is wisdom,“ Proverbs 11:2. Whoever humbles themselves like a child is “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” Matthew 18:4. “He who humbles himself will be exalted,” Luke 14:11. But there is also a warning here. We are to humble ourselves, now. God has promised that if you are haughty, prideful, and arrogant then he will humble you. God opposes the proud and great is the fall of the prideful. God will see that all will be humble before him, either you come before him in humility or you come before him in humiliation. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,” 1 Peter 5:6.