FBT Daily Devotional: Genesis 33

#trauma #faith #Faithbeyondtrauma #freedom #discipleship #healing #deliverance #carrolltonga #austellga #carrollcountyga #debtdoubtworrystressfearfree #brokenchains #fbt #traumarecovery #recovery

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Absolutely. Let me tell you, I'm so excited. We are in Genesis, the 33rd, the 33rd chapter. And last night, Brother Michael went over 32. And I'm gonna kind of so we were talking in our group last night a little bit about how Genesis is so funny. Well, the Bible in general is just kind of funny. Like growing up, you hear about all the good things that people did, like the, you know, the themes of Abraham. He was the father of many nations. You hear about David, you hear about Solomon and all those things. But what you really don't hear about, like really, really, really, is all the drama that was in there. So um I am going to take a little bit of a detour and talk a little bit about. Um, I'm gonna make we're gonna have a gossip session today. And it's not a bad gossip session. This is gonna be kind of like um, you know, for some of the younger people my age and a little bit older and younger, Shade Room, or as the as the world turns, or General Hospital, or it's gonna be one of those kind of gossipy kind of days we're gonna talk about, okay? Because that's what I feel like the Bible is like. I feel like the Bible has been like somewhat of a reality show, especially the journey we've been taking in the last couple of weeks going through Genesis. So I'm really, really excited about it. So today I have Genesis chapter 33, and I'm talking about the brothers uh Jacob and Esau, and I'm really excited about it. Yeah, I'm just so excited. The word of God is just so good. So um, as we know, Brother Michael went over last night when Jacob had his big transformation last night, or the he had his big transformation with um with the angel, and he wrestled with God. So he basically, you know, changed his life. He became, he had like a spiritual awakening, if you would. So now we're in, we're gonna fast forward to chapter 33. So um basically, as we know, when we look back, um, just giving you a little bit more history, um, Jacob and Esau are now at odds. The brothers are at odds, right? They hadn't seen each other in a long time. It's been like 20 years. So I want y'all to act like I'm gossiping, because I am about the Bible. Um, 20 years of just kind of family drama going on. Everyone um, you know, was tripping. They were angry with each other. Um, the birthright was stolen. So um now, um, and and uh Jacob had uh vowed to kill his brother Esau for stealing the birthright, right? So that's some family drama for you. That's some real straight up family drama. So um in chapters one, it goes on to say that uh Jacob, and I can't use my phone to see the scripture, but you guys just bear with me for a second. Um, if my brother Phil is in here, he sometimes will put the scripture in the chat. Um he's not in here, but he um so in in the chapter one, he basically um Jacob looks up and he sees uh his brother uh Esau. Um, and not only does he see Esau, he sees Esau and a bunch of people, about 400 men. And Jacob has stolen his birthright, so he likes, oh, oh, I'm about to see my brother. Um, so Jacob starts arranging his family strategically um where he puts because he's he's getting ready to throw down. He thinks he's gonna fight his brother because he stole his birthright. I ain't seen him in 20 years, he's mad at me. So he starts strategically um putting the family together. He put um his servants and everybody on the front line, he put his his his favorite wife and his favorite son on the back line, um, Rachel and Joseph, closer to him. And I'm sure he probably kept his distance because remember, the um when he had the fight with the angel and with when he wrestled with God, he hurt himself. Like he got hurt, like he's now basically crippled. You know, his uh he had a plague, or not a plague, but he he was hurting. So I'm sure he wasn't trying to fight. He was probably trying to put all his um good people in the front. And he, if he's gonna lose some, I'm gonna lose, you know, some of us will survive. Not not all of us might survive, but if we're gonna survive, I'm gonna keep the people that I love the most to me to the side. And we're gonna try to try to do the best we can because he's ready to throw down because he hadn't seen his brother in forever. So Jacob decides um that he basically can't hide forever. Um, so he he just walks towards his brother. Um, and instead of um, you know, basically having words with him, he went to him and started bowing before him. And the the more he bowed, the closer he got. So he bowed a total of seven times. Um, and each time he got closer and closer to him. Now there's a significance in seven, and I may or may not get into that because I want to make sure we have enough time. Basically, seven is God's number of completion. Um, as we know, when people bow before other people, it meant honor and respect. So Jacob had had this transformation. He knew his brother was mad at him, um, but he really had changed his heart. So he was coming to him in his purest form, and he had also sent gifts and stuff ahead of time, which is we'll get into that. Um, so in his heart, he was thinking, let me go in here and try to be as human um as humble as I can. So he he bowed seven seven times as if to say, I come in peace, please don't destroy me. Um, because he was ready to be for a big fight. But instead of, of course, the fight, what happened was Esau went up to Jacob and embraced him. Now, let me tell you the significance of this too, because back in the day, um, you know, men had on those long robes, right? And they were considered men of power, you know, in the lineage of uh Jesus. So when you were in power and authority, you had these long robes on, and Esau saw his brother, and instead of getting mad, he literally lifted up his robes to show his legs and ran towards his brother. Men of power and authority, they didn't run, nor did they show their legs because it was kind of distasteful to do that. But he was so happy to see his brother that he actually ran and embraced him, which, you know, was that was kind of cool. So Jacob didn't get the um response he thought he was gonna get from his brother. He actually got a warm and loving embrace. Um, he grabs his brother, Jacob, and gives him a kiss. Um, and both of them started crying. The 20 years of tension was gone in one second, in one moment, right? Um, so whereas we looking for family drama, no, it didn't happen in this time because Jacob had had a transformation and his brother Esau had, you know, he had God had softened his heart. So basically, um, so basically what happened after that was we're looking at Esau notices um when he sees Jacob that there's a but he's got a bunch of people and livestock and a bunch of stuff. And Jacob was coming to offer himself for forgiveness. So he was, you know, when you are asking for forgiveness, sometimes you bring gifts, you know, for people. And he had camels, he had goats, and all those things. And um, he was gonna give all those gifts to Esau um to get some additional favor with him. And Esau was like, yo, no, I'm good. Like I got everything I need. I have plenty. You don't need to do anything for me. I appreciate you. I love you. There's no need to go above and beyond. You have done just enough by coming and showing yourself. Um, so basically, the peace of the family was successful. And I forgot to read the um the three themes of today's lesson is going to be humility, grace, and reconciliation. So as the story goes on, um, the of course the brothers reconcile. And instead of um traveling together as a big happy family again, um, Esau suggested um let's let's let's get together and travel together. Jacob politely says, No, I don't, I don't think we need to do that. Um, he explains that the kids and animals move slowly. Of course, he's moving slowly now because he's been injured because he fought with God. Um, and he said, We'll catch up to you later. But basically, you know, it's kind of like we are, you know, we say, Let's hang out, let's go to lunch, let's go do this, that, and the other. And we we don't, you know, you know how it is. So I'm assuming that, you know, his intentions were well-meaning, but you know, he it just didn't happen. And there is a lesson in that as well. Um, let's see. See, um, both of them go their own way. Esau goes to Saire and Jacob goes to Sacloth, which is down in um towards Sacloth, which is down towards Canaan. Um, and down there, Jacob basically builds an altar to God. Um, now the both of them found peace with each other. So the basic basic theme was humility, grace, and reconciliation. Some of the themes that we learned in chapter 33 or that I took out from uh 33, there was there was a couple of rabbit holes that I went down, which is why I was so excited because the Bible has so many, so many, so many good things in it. But the first one was um our fears about people are often worse than reality. So a lot of times, for example, Jacob thought Esau was coming. He basically told him he was gonna kill him. Um, so he expected that. So when he saw his brother after 20 years, he expected to be a fight, and it really wasn't a fight. So in his mind, he had set up some things psychologically, if I should, if I can go there for a second, that really weren't true. He was not going to be um harmed or uh injured by his brother. They weren't gonna have a big fight. They actually, there was actual true forgiveness, and that's because there was a transformation. God was in the middle of all of that. The other lesson is humility decreases and eliminates conflict. So a lot of times when we are humble when we put ourselves before God, um, it will eliminate some conflicts. Um, number four, um, forgiveness releases emotional weight. Um, I know you've heard it said before, forgiveness is not for the other person. A lot of times it's for us. That is so very true. Not every time do we, when we forgive somebody, they've gone on and lived their own lives, and we are just holding on to all this anger, frustration, and hurt. And these people have gone on and lived their lives. And um, peace does not always require closure. Reconciliation does not always mean you have to stay close. Now that's a powerful one because I know for me, I'm I'm always about, I need closure, I need closure. Well, you know, sometimes God will give you closure, sometimes it's not necessary. These brothers, they had peace, they had closure with each other, they had squashed some beef that they had, but they all went on about their way. And they're still family members, they still love each other, but they went on about their ways. That there's all the all the humility, I mean, all the anger, frustration, hurt had dissipated. And but they decided to live in different places because it was just the best thing for them to do. Um, basically, I put down here um they developed healthy boundaries with each other, which included you stay over here and I'll stay over here, and we can love each other from a distance. So um that is what I got out of today's lesson. Um, I encourage you to go in and I started going down another rabbit hole, and I'm just gonna give this piece. I noticed that there's a theme in the Bible where, as you know, usually the older brother is the one that gets the birthright. The male in the family is the one that kind of carries on the name and everything. But there's patterns in the Bible where you see the younger brother is the one that has like the calling of God on him. For example, um, Jacob and Esau is one of those stories. Ishmael and Isaac is another one. Um, David was the youngest of all of his siblings. Um, and a lot of times the younger sibling, you would think that the younger sibling is looked over, but God really chose those younger siblings. But that wasn't, that's kind of what I was my own little rabbit hole that I was going down. It's just so much stuff in the Bible that's just so good. It's like a reality show. It's like shade room, it's like general hospital, it's like it's just so good. So um, you know, let's keep doing this journey together. And I love y'all, and that's my time.