Forgiveness

Genesis 33:1-4 -  And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.  And he put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.  He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

There comes a moment in everyone’s lives when you cannot turn back.  You have made a commitment to something far greater than yourself…and even knowing the outcome might destroy you…you continue anyway.  Jacob had wrestled with and turned his total being over to God’s will….and God  in return …God had washed over him the peace that passes all understanding…a strength to face his sin. And so Jacob prepares for the worst…but is surprised by the best.

The great thing about this story is that Jacob experiences the total forgiveness of his brother….and he recognizes that it is a God thing. Esau did not just forgive him in words…he forgave like God forgives…by running to his brother in excitement…in embracing and hugging him…in kissing him…in letting go of his emotions and mixing his tears of joy with Jacob’s tears of repentance….reminding me of the Father’s joy of the prodigal son in Luke 15. It must have been something to behold.

I got caught up for several minutes pondering what caused this great change in Esau.  I searched my resources…and racked my own brain for possibilities. I wanted to find the story of what God used in Esau’s life to bring him to that moment of total forgiveness…but realized God did not allow Moses to record that moment in time for us….just the end result. Esau must have met God at some point in his life too…and he allowed God to wash away all the bitterness he had built up in his own heart. Forgiveness is a powerful tool of God to change hearts and lives….so we can focus on God instead of ourselves….so we can focus on the task God gave us do…instead of what earthly things might bring us satisfaction in life.

It seems at first that Esau got way more out of this meeting than Jacob.  Esau left thinking that he and his brother had been reunited…he probably planned a huge surprise party to celebrate as soon as he reached Seir.  But Jacob delays his trip by many years…going to Succoth for reasons not fully explained… building pens for his flocks. The peace and comfort of his brother’s forgiveness seems to leave Jacob as quickly as they part. He doesn’t run back to the altar at Bethel like I would imagine his own joy would drive him too.  He goes off on a hard to explain side trip…finally settling near a town called Shechem and building a new altar there. No worship is mentioned…no thanks to God for his renewed relationship with his brother. Jacob’s repentance seems so surface as he tracks away from his brother. Maybe that is not entirely a bad thing.  Maybe the peace he received allowed him to put the matter out of his mind for good and concentrate on God’s orders to return to the land of his father’s so he could be blessed with the promise of God. But I have to entertain the thought that Esau’s forgiveness gave Jacob a false confidence…allowing pride to once again creep into his heart.

Father…..I am constantly amazed by your goodness and mercy.  I thank you for the power of forgiveness that washes a peace into my soul…that my past is erased from your memory …just as Esau erased the mean treatment of his brother out of his own mind.  Thank you for helping me to draw closer to you each day….for allowing me to drink in the secrets to washing hate and bitterness completely out of my heart. Help me to guard against the world robbing me of the comfort and peace you have given me. Let me meet you at our usual place each night to talk to each other and wake each morning to write what you need me to learn from your book of wisdom. Give me a constant source of energy and strength to search for your will….and then apply it quickly to everything I do. Amen