GENESIS 33

Tears flooded my eyes as I read this passage today. What a mental picture of forgiveness & grace this passage is!!! And how continually I need to be reminded of these core characteristics of my God. The Noona film this past Friday coupled with the Journey readings this week have really reminded me of God’s faithfulness to me and His unconditional, gentle, and grace-filled love towards me. In essence… His father-heart. It’s hard for me to really grasp this aspect of Him… but I so desperately want to and I can see where He has slowly been showing me this aspect of Himself. I trust that He longs to reveal Himself to me WAY more than I will ever want to know Him. Sad… but true!

So, at last, today we see Esau and Jacob reunite. It has been a good 20 + years since they last saw eachother and in the meantime it becomes apparent that Esau has chosen to forgive Jacob. What character we see shine through in Esau’s life… all those years of steadfast faith have paid off… he now gets to experience a restored relationship with his brother and share in the blessings God brought Jacob’s way.

I love that the men wept at their reunion. What vulnerability… what love… what a picture of God when we return to Him. He, like Esau, doesn’t punish us as we deserve… He receives us back with weeping. As Jacob comes over the ridge to meet Esau, filled with fear and the knowledge of the punishment he deserves, he bows low to the ground several times. Whether this was in fear or in repentance or a combination of both, what he receives from Esau is clearly not what he was expecting.

As I come over the ridge of my life, the difference is that I know what character to expect when I meet God. He is unchanging. But too often I shrink in fear and miss out on the full blessedness of receiving His grace. I want to be able to boldly, yet humbly approach the throne of Grace each time I have sinned. I think all too often an unhealthy view of the Lord keeps me from repentance. When I am confident in HIS character, my focus is less on my own abilities, failures, successes, strength, etc. I am less crushed with guilt when I do mess up and I am more quick to repent, change, and live honestly with others when my confidence is in His character!