Seeking Grace, Not Entitlement

Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father

Seeking Grace, Not Entitlement

Genesis 32:9-12 New International Version (NIV)

9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

 

          Esau is often pictured as somewhat of a crude man, the hairy hunter, the man's  

          man.   We are not prepared for the graciousness with which he greets his brother  

         after his brother had stolen that which was most precious to him, the blessing due   

         the older son.

  

         When Jacob prepared to meet his brother he had to acknowledge to himself and to  

         God that he had seriously wronged his brother and that his brother was justified in  

         seeking vengeance. What he did not know was that his brother had prospered in  

         material as well as spiritual ways in his absence and no longer needed vengeance.

        Although Jacob was not entitled to his brother's love and forgiveness, he did     

        receive it through Esau's grace.

 

        Many years later Jacob, now called Israel, had to reach out to his favorite son and  

        beg him to show that same unmerited favor to brothers who had sorely wronged   

        him.  Joseph, like Esau, had grown in material as well as spiritual ways and had a  

        heart that could forgive past wrongs.

 

        Esau and Joseph provide good examples for us in the art of forgiveness. One   

        endured  the theft of a birthright, the other slavery and prison yet each was able to 

        embrace his brother(s) in the warmth of forgiveness.

        Sometimes we feel entitled to our hurt feelings and justified in our wish for    

        retribution, but are we robbing ourselves of moments of God's grace?

 

       We pray...”forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”...

       The “gift of forgiveness” is a gift to both the giver and the receiver. Let us be eager 

       for this gift.

 

       May God Forever Be a Blessing in Your Life!!!