There are times when we are not proud of the decisions we made in the past. I have talked to many people that would go back in time if they could to change a few things. Mistakes. Heart aches. Griefs. Wrong Doings. We can run from our past. Move to a new town like Jacob did. We can bury it deep down inside of us, and while time may help us to move on, the consequences of our past lie with those that we have hurt.
His past was coming back to haunt him as he was about to face the person that he had done wrong.
Genesus 32:3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you speak unto my lord Esau; your servant Jacob says thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
5And I have oxen, and donkeys, flocks, and menservants, and maidservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in your sight.
6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and also he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.
Now that he has gotten older and wiser, he is humbling himself before his brother, and asking for grace. He called him his lord, and called himself the servant. In all essence this is telling his brother, "I'm so sorry, I was wrong, please give me grace."
There are some people no matter how much they suffer for their ways, or how much suffering they cause others they refuse to change their ways, to say I am sorry, to ask for grace, to make amends for their wrong deeds.
Jacob is asking for grace and the beautiful part of this story is that Esau gives him the grace that he ask for. How much better would this world be if everyone would walk in this kind of mercy and kindness? How much better would our lives be if families would grant one another mercy, and grace for past sins instead of holding it against one another for life.
Did someone hurt you? Take something from you? Deceive you? Did they throw you in a pit like they did Joseph? Did these things happen 20, 30, 40 years ago. Can you let it go? Will you be merciful like your Father in heaven is merciful? You can hold a grudge forever but is that the Will of God for your life?
When Jacob heard his brother was coming with 400 men, he grew very afraid.
Genesis 32: 7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
8And said, If Esau comes to the one company, and smites it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
9And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said unto me, Return unto your country, and to your kindred, and I will deal well with you:
10I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which you have showed unto your servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two bands.
11Deliver me, I pray you, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
12And you said, I will surely do you good, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
13And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
He prayed to God and reminded God of his promises to him. He knew that his plan might fail, but God's promises NEVER fail. God's promises to you are a shield and a rock of safety. When everything else fails, God's word will never fall. However you have failed in the past, it is nothing that God's grace and mercy cannot repair. There is restoration through our Lord Jesus Christ!
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