Ready or Not?

When Yaakov left Haran he had confronted Lavan and had finished growing and developing. He was supposed to be ready to finally confront Eisav and take his role as leader of Bnei Yisrael. That was the plan. Go to Charan. Grow. Develop. Learn how to confront manipulative people like Lavan. Assert yourself. Mature. And along the way there was the opportunity of gaining family and wealth. Then return home and confront Eisav. Everything seems to be going swell. Yaakov leaves Haran prepared for his imminent encounter with Eisav along with all of the wealth he had picked up in Charan and his wives and children. Yet, what confuses me is that Yaakov begins to seem scared and nervous to see Eisav again. Was everything that happened in Charan just a fluke? Did Yaakov just snap back to his old self once he thought about the possibility of facing off with Eisav?

Yaakov sent messengers to Eisav, which already sounds like a weakness. Although they are called messengers, it sounds more like they are spying on the competition. Doesn't Yaakov have any faith in himself that he can defeat Eisav without any prior knowledge of Eisav's plans or thoughts of their upcoming face-off? Or at the least, does he not have faith that G-d will protect him and his family? When the messengers return they tell Yaakov that Eisav has 400 men with him. This terrifies Yaakov. He assumes that Eisav is coming to attack him, and he immediately prepares for the attack. First, he splits his camp into two. This way, if Eisav destroys one camp, at least the other can escape. Yaakov also prays to G-d and reminds Him of His promise to Yaakov (and his fathers). Then, Yaakov sends gifts to Eisav. Yaakov's actions can be understood as intelligent and clever or they can perceived as a display of his former insecurities that have resurfaced. If he had truly believed that he was prepared to defeat Eisav, then why was he so scared when he hears about Eisav's men?

In Pasuk 23, it says that "he arose during that night". He then took his family across the river. By saying that he woke up that night, it seems like he is trying to be sneaky. Yaakov is supposed to be fully prepared and ready for this confrontation. Why is he acting like they're undercover? My main question is (which I'm sure will be answered this week) is: Is Yaakov actually ready to confront Eisav? And if he is then why is he not acting like it?