Today's Reading:Gen. 33:1-20
"Jacob Faces Esau"
Focus Verses: Genesis 33:1-20
18 After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. 20 There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.
Insight:
Jacob determined to move forward and took God at his word. His confidence in God was greater than his fear of Esau. He determined to hold on to the hope of his God-promised future, and let go of the fears of his self-muddled past.
The encounter and conversation Jacob and Esau have is multi-layered and complex. You can feel the deeper issues looming beneath the polite and cordial surface conversation. Esau appears to have the same failings he had as a young man: short-sighted, impulsive, and easily bribed. Jacob, however, seems changed. He pays Esau off, but he is no longer the arrogant, self-assured manipulator. Now his words and actions seem to come from a humble reliance upon God.
He had survived the encounter with Esau. He had arrived safely in Canaan. So he bought a piece of land where he could pitch his tent. The first thing he did was to set up an altar to worship God. He called it the altar "El Elohe" which means "Mighty is the God of the one who struggles with Him."
Response and Action:
I want to move forward into the life God has promised for me. I need to move beyond the failures and habits of my past. It is a struggle to live by faith--to keep believing that there is a better land ahead and a future hope. Every step forward in obedience is a testimony of faith. What habits and patterns of my past is God asking me to confront today? If I truly have faith in God, what obedient steps should I take today?
O God, help me to trust you more than I fear my past. Give me a faith in your strength that is greater than the fears of my weaknesses. Help me, by faith in your grace and power, to confront the failed habits and patterns I have developed through the years. I am a struggler God. I struggle with who I am, who you are, and the possibility of who I can be in you. By the power of your Holy Spirit, lead, teach, transform, shape and strengthen me, that I might delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your Name. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov. 18:19
"An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel."
New Testament for Today: Hebrews 12:1b
1b...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
In Context: Hebrews 12:1-12
Resources:
Following After God
by Daniel Hill
