For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. — Genesis 33:10
How is the face of Esau like the face of God?
For twenty years Jacob lived a fugitive. Sure, he was working. He was raising a family and building a career. But in the back of his mind was one nagging thought that wouldn’t go away: Esau. Somewhere there was a man who wanted Jacob dead. With the passage of time, would he calm down and forget about it? Or would he show up in Jacob’s tent some night in the middle of the night with a sword in his hand?
For years Jacob waited for the word that never came. His mother promised to send word when Esau calmed down. But Esau didn’t calm down. Instead, with revenge on his heart, he built an army of 400 men.
Jacob lived as a fugitive.
And so do we sometimes.
On the day I originally wrote this devotional, I wrestled with temptations. Thoughts in my mind that I didn’t want to be there, but I couldn’t seem to drive them away. No matter what I did, the thoughts came back like a swarm of hungry mosquitoes. When it was time to write this devotional, I thought to myself, "How can I possibly do this? What do I have to offer anybody? Why am I writing these devotionals anyway? What made me think I could do this?"
Deep in my heart I felt that I was not a child of God "seated with Christ in heavenly places," but rather a sinner, on the run, a fugitive, hoping God wouldn’t find me with His sword of exposure and disapproval.
I was running, but as so often happens I wasn’t really looking where I was going and I ran into the arms of God. No, I don’t suppose that I myself have much to share, but here from this place where God’s arms are wrapped around me, I write to you and say that Esau’s face was like the face of God. In the place of wrath, we found mercy and tears of reconciliation.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
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