Thursday, 27 December 2012

Genesis chapter 33


If Jacob was still worried about how Esau would receive him, the way he split up the group clearly shows his preferences.  First in the line of fire were the servant wives and their children, then Leah and her children and finally Jacob and Rachel.  Yet the precautions were unnecessary as Esau greeted Jacob with a big hug.  Whilst time way from each other had caused the one brother to worry over his reception, the other had come to terms with their disagreement and was no longer bitter. 

This was such an answer to prayer that I bet Jacob never even expected in his wildest dreams.  It just shows that God can do even more than we could ever imagine:

Ephesians 1:18-21 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,  and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (NASB)

Sometimes, we can worry ourselves silly over things that happen, or that we think are going to happen, and yet God has everything under his control, in His hands.  We can spend a lifetime worrying over every single thing that happens to us, worrying about our jobs (or lack of a job), our homes (or lack of a home), our spouses (or lack of a spouse), our children (or lack of children), the world, the man next door, whether it will rain tomorrow or not, anything and everything.  But all this ignores God in our lives, ignores the fact that each one of us believers is filled with the Holy Spirit, our comforter and guide, and that Jesus himself told us to cast all our burdens on him for his yoke is light and his burden easy.

I know I for one need to spend more time in prayer, to take all things to God, not just the big ones, or the ones that seem more important or more worrying.  God knows our hearts, knows the things that make us smile, the ones that cause us pain, and through him, we can do anything.  The arm of the Lord is not too short to deal with my problems, or even the problems in the world.  I just need to learn to talk to Him, to take things to Him and to have en ever deepening relationship with him.

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