\u200b\u200bI love this story. I think it\u2019s because somehow I missed it growing up, and when I read it as an adult, it moved me to tears. I remember hearing the part of Jacob\u2019s story from the end of Genesis 32, where he wrestled with God, but I\u2019d never really heard his story from chapter 33\u2014and this story has a happy ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We don\u2019t actually get to say that very often about many stories in the Bible and certainly not of the stories found in Genesis. In fact, every story about Jacob leading up to this one is not very fun to read. Following Jacob\u2019s narrative, we see that he chose to collude with his mother in order to steal the birthright from his older brother, Esau. He went on to be deceived into marrying a woman he didn\u2019t love. And he was exploited by his father-in-law, Laban, forced into years of servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Genesis 31, Jacob began to journey back to his home where he would meet his estranged brother, Esau. In stealing Esau\u2019s birthright, Jacob wronged his brother terribly. And then, he brought his wives, children, and livestock on a journey to meet Esau again. He packed up a massive gift offering, trying to win Esau\u2019s affections (or tolerance) with whatever he could give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s the stunningly beautiful, perfect portrait of God\u2019s free grace to us: Esau ran to Jacob, embraced him, and said \u201cI have enough, my brother….Keep what you have\u201d (Genesis 33:9). Esau\u2019s reaction moves me to tears and makes me want to shout out in celebration\u2014all at the same time\u2014because this story is a picture of what God offers me. Their reconciliation is just a foretaste of our own reconciliation with our God: a redeemed relationship that we cannot buy, we cannot earn, and we cannot lose. I have wronged God. Apart from Christ, I was estranged from Him. Everything that Jacob did to Esau, I have done ten times over to everyone I know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can imagine myself before Him. I\u2019m trembling as I hold out my \u201cgood deeds\u201d as an offering to Him, a way to make our relationship right, and He responds by telling me He not only has enough\u2014He is enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God provided redemption through Jesus for His children, and His work on the cross is enough to cover every sin. Jesus secured the redemption of those who believe in Him. And the Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption, when we will live with God forever. Thanks be to God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u200b\u200bI love this story. I think it\u2019s because somehow I missed it growing up, and when I read it as an adult, it moved me to tears. I remember hearing the part of Jacob\u2019s story from the end of Genesis 32, where he wrestled with God, but I\u2019d never really heard his story from chapter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":71768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genesis25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71878],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"She Reads Truth","devotional_text":"JACOB PREPARES TO MEET ESAU<\/b>
\r\nby Melanie Rainer<\/i>
\r\n
\u200b\u200bI love this story. I think it\u2019s because somehow I missed it growing up, and when I read it as an adult, it moved me to tears. I remember hearing the part of Jacob\u2019s story from the end of Genesis 32, where he wrestled with God, but I\u2019d never really heard his story from chapter 33\u2014and this story has a happy ending.<\/p>
\r\n
We don\u2019t actually get to say that very often about many stories in the Bible and certainly not of the stories found in Genesis. In fact, every story about Jacob leading up to this one is not very fun to read. Following Jacob\u2019s narrative, we see that he chose to collude with his mother in order to steal the birthright from his older brother, Esau. He went on to be deceived into marrying a woman he didn\u2019t love. And he was exploited by his father-in-law, Laban, forced into years of servitude.<\/p>
\r\n
In Genesis 31, Jacob began to journey back to his home where he would meet his estranged brother, Esau. In stealing Esau\u2019s birthright, Jacob wronged his brother terribly. And then, he brought his wives, children, and livestock on a journey to meet Esau again. He packed up a massive gift offering, trying to win Esau\u2019s affections (or tolerance) with whatever he could give.<\/p>
\r\n
Here\u2019s the stunningly beautiful, perfect portrait of God\u2019s free grace to us: Esau ran to Jacob, embraced him, and said \u201cI have enough, my brother....Keep what you have\u201d (Genesis 33:9). Esau\u2019s reaction moves me to tears and makes me want to shout out in celebration\u2014all at the same time\u2014because this story is a picture of what God offers me. Their reconciliation is just a foretaste of our own reconciliation with our God: a redeemed relationship that we cannot buy, we cannot earn, and we cannot lose. I have wronged God. Apart from Christ, I was estranged from Him. Everything that Jacob did to Esau, I have done ten times over to everyone I know.<\/p>
\r\n
I can imagine myself before Him. I\u2019m trembling as I hold out my \u201cgood deeds\u201d as an offering to Him, a way to make our relationship right, and He responds by telling me He not only has enough\u2014He is enough.<\/p>
\r\n
God provided redemption through Jesus for His children, and His work on the cross is enough to cover every sin. Jesus secured the redemption of those who believe in Him. And the Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption, when we will live with God forever. Thanks be to God!<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"23","scripture":"Genesis 31:1-55, Genesis 32:1-32, Genesis 33:1-20, Hosea 12:3-4","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}