"Greetings Everyone in the Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"
Today's Blog Title: "Jacob and Esau Meet"
Today's Scripture Reading: Genesis 33:1-20
Today's Key Verse: Genesis 33:4 "But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept."
Today we see the dreaded meeting that Jacob was going to have with his brother Esau. They have not seen each other for over 20 years and for all Jacob knew, Esau was coming with 400 men to destroy his family. We see that Jacob when he saw that Esau was coming, aligned his family in a pattern that would protect him. He had his favorite wife, Rachel, in the rear along with Joseph his youngest. In verse 3, we now see that Jacob bowed himself seven times, until he came close to his brother. With this gesture, Jacob expressed his deep sorrow, for the way he had wronged Esau.
Now the most shocking thing happened that Jacob wasn't expecting, instead of taking revenge as Jacob had feared, Esau welcomed Jacob with joy. We now see that Esau sees the woman and children who are with Jacob, and he asks, "who are these with you?" Jacob then introduces his family to Esau. The dreaded meeting now turned into a family reunion. We need to look at what might be the reason, why Esau wasn't angry with Jacob anymore. When Jacob had taken Esau's birthright and blessing, Esau was angry, and afraid that he would be doomed with poverty. In fact, when Jacob gives presents to Esau, he tells Jacob in verse 9, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself". We see with the 400 men, that Esau had brough with him that he has prospered materially. As when they left 20 years earlier, Esau, still only cared about worldly wealth. He no longer cared what his brother had taken, for spiritual blessings had no meaning to this totally worldly man. We as Christians need to realize, that if we are satisfied with the good things of this world, then we will miss the most important thing: "Spiritual Blessings".
Once again we see as we have seen throughout this study of Genesis, that God was, is, and will always be in control. "WOW"!!!!!! What a blessed assurance that is.
In verse 10, we see that Jacob still presents his gifts to Esau, as if they were gifts to God. He then fulfilled his promise to God in Genesis 28:22 where he said, "And this stone which I have set as a pillar, shall be God's House, and all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to you."
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Jacob, being a wiser man, wanted to bless Esau with what God had given him and he wanted to restore the broken relationship with his brother.
We see now see in verse 17, that Jacob, on his journey back home, stops and builds temporary shelters. Jacob then comes back into the land of Canaan, through the Shechem, and lives outside the city because the city was devoted to pagan worship. Jacob then purchases a some land. Even though God had promised the entire land to Abraham they were buying it one piece at a time.
In the closing verse of Chapter 20, we see that Jacob who is now called "Israel", builds an altar for the worship of the Lord. The name of the altar, "God, the God of Israel", reflects that the God of his father Isaac, was now Jacob's personal God, for he had fulfilled His promises and protected him.
Today's Closing Question and Comment: "What happens inside you, when you try to avoid a problem?" You can imagine how Jacob felt, to see Esau's change of heart then they met. The bitterness that Esau felt 20 years earlier, of losing his birthright, and blessing to Jacob seemed gone. Esau, was content with the worldly possessions that he had. Life doesn't present any of us with a rose garden. Life can deal us some bad situations. We can feel cheated, but we dont't have to remain bitter. We can remove bitterness from our lives by honestly expressing our feelings to God. We need to forgive those that have wronged us, and be content with what we have.
Purify my heart, Touch me with cleansing fire
Take me to the cross; Your holiness is my desire
Breathe Your life in me, Kindle a love that flows from Your throne
Oh, purify my heart. Purify my heart.
Heavenly Father, Thank you Lord for the Bible, where your truths are revealed to us. We read about the good in man, and the evilness of man and nothing is withheld from us. We read of your promises to those that are faithful to you, and how each time, you were faithfully to those that worshiped you. Help us Lord, as we read your word, to have open hearts, and open minds, that we might be filled with the Spiritual Food, that we need to grow and live for you.
Amen
Have a God Filled and Spirit Led Day. Go in Peace and Serve the Lord. Love God More Today and remember when you have a Spiritual Defeat and you tell, I Can't" God whispers to you "BUT I CAN"
Yours In Christ,
Cindi
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