Jacob Reunites With Big Brother

Have you ever gotten the “We need to talk” text? What is your next thought? What did I do? What has gone wrong? Is it something I did?

Now have you ever gotten that text, and it turned out to be good news? And think of all the worrying and anxiety you put yourself through. Just to have it all work out in the end.

Jacob was at sorts with himself over the reuniting with Esau. Remember Esau swore that the next time he saw his brother he was going to kill him. Jacob wondered if his temper had cooled, or if he was in for a deadly reunion.

Well it turned out that all of Jacobs worries and anxieties were for nothing. Esau received the gifts his brother had sent ahead of him, and he came out to meet him rather than waiting on Jacob to come to Seir. He embraced his brother Jacob, they wept, and Jacob explained that Esau was an uncle 11 times over.

Both brothers sought to out do each other in giving, but Jacob won out in the end. Esau lovingly invited Jacob back to his home, but Jacob knew if he pushed his young family and cattle that they would not survive the trip. So he says that Esau should go on ahead, and Jacob will catch up eventually....but he never does.

Jacob settles in the land north of Jerusalem.

What do you notice about this exchange between Jacob and Esau? Esau is measurably different. Genesis 33:10 “Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.” God has changed Esau. Throughout the years God has melted his bitter heart of stone. He has replaced the malice inside with that of love and care. Only God can do that. Only God can change people.

Jacob was called, Jacob was blessed, and Jacob was given a purpose. Jacob faced many challenges, and the largest one yet was going to be facing his brother. Had his brother been in the same mindset as when Jacob had left, Esau would have taken the gifts, killed Jacob, and taken what was left. But God works on people. God changes the people around us to fit His will. If life is a chess board, and God needs pieces to move around in order to set up His win, He will move them around.

There was once a lady who was a wonderful Christian, but she lived next door to an atheist. She would read her Bible and pray her prayers on her front porch every morning which drove the neighbor mad. She would invite him to church constantly, and ask him if there was anything she could pray for him. Which only made him scoff and roll his eyes. One day she became ill and got down. She lived alone, and had no one to get her groceries. She was running very low on food. She had her windows open and she sent out this prayer “God, your child is coming to you once again asking for your help. You know that I am sick, and you know that I can’t get out, but I am running out of food. Could you send your child some food, Lord? I need your help terribly.” The atheist heard her prayer and he thought “I’ll show her God does not exist.” He went out and got her a weeks months worth of groceries, sat them on her doorstep, rang the doorbell, and slipped around the corner to wait for her response. She shuffled to the door, opened it to the mountain of groceries, and exclaimed loudly “Lord, you are beyond good! I never could have done it without you!” Her neighbor jumped out and exclaimed “Ah Ha! I got you. Your God did not send you groceries, I brought you those earlier. It was all me.” The faithful lady lifted her eyes to heaven and said “Lord, you brought me my groceries, and you even made the devil deliver them!”

Only God can transform people. Only through God will you see a positive outcome in your life. Has God called you to a heavy task? Likely. Are you scared? Probably, Jacob sure was. God has the power to rain fire from heaven, and shut off the rain. He has the power to send raging storms, and has the power to split seas so that we could walk across on dry ground. God has the way mapped out. He knows who He is going to bring along beside you, He knows whose hearts He is going to change, He knows the steps He is going to put in place so that you will succeed, and He even knows who will come along to try and stop you on the journey. God has it all laid out, and He has the success waiting on the other end. You just have to follow Him, and trust that He will change the hearts of those who are involved along the way.