Genesis 33:4 & 10
"Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept... Jacob said, 'No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.'"
Jacob and his brother Esau are united after about 20 years. And Jacob is not greeted with the contempt that he expects, but with a merciful, gracious love! By our actions and re-actions, we can be reflections of God to others. We are mere humans...but made in the image of God - and sometimes, when we act in accordance with the original nature that the Lord purposed us with - we truly reflect Him. Amen!
I'm going to take your thought with me today - that when I act and react to others in accordance with the original nature that the Lord purposed for me, then I reflect Him to the world. I love that!!!
ReplyDeleteThe difference between chapters 33 and 34 is really striking. In one you have God's chosen people benefiting from forgiveness at the hands of Esau, and in the next chapter Jacob's sons react vengefully to the violation of their sister. How do we decide between forgiveness and justice?
ReplyDeleteI think that Ephesians 5:3 offers some guidance, "But among you there must not be EVEN A HINT of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people."
Clearly, the actions of Jacob's family in chapter 34 don't represent Godly justice - they paid back deceitfulness and death with more of the same! (God's name isn't mentioned at all in chapter 34).
Contrast that with what happens in chapter 35, when Jacob steps up as the spiritual leader of his family and orders them to purify themselves. As a result, "the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them." We can't lose with purity and devotion to God's law!
I actually want to put out something that was in Matthew 10 that really touched my heart. It was when Jesus tells the disciples to go out and spread the word of God. He follows it up with this statement.
ReplyDelete"For it will not be you speaking, but the spirit of your father speaking through you."
And that is so true. Often times we forget that God is living inside every one of us.
Amen brotha!
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