Saturday 25 May 2013

Saturday Reading: Genesis 33:9-14

Key Verse: Genesis 33:13
13  And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.

Devotion:
I had never really thought too much about this passage thinking that Jacob was just being sensible and over cautious in his approach to coming home to Esau. But when you think about what Jacob was doing, it was not because of his fear for Esau at this stage. Esau had forgiven Jacob and welcomed him with open arms, Jacob had nothing to fear anymore. And yet Jacob still chose to come into the land slowly and cautiously.

His caution was no longer that of a frightened man but rather of a loving Father and Lord over what he still had as possessions. Jacob could have looked forward to the end of the journey and followed Esau quickly back to his home, but Jacob chose to look after what he had before enjoying the fruit of what he had just received. Esau probably wanted to have a big party and celebrate that they were together again, but Jacob’s heart was for the people and animals that he was in charge of.

Just like a conscientious shepherd would do, he did not want to overtax the young animals that he had in his care. Like a loving father he did not want to overtax the young children that he had in his care. All in all Jacob was showing his care for those around him over and above what he had to show for this friendship he had just rekindled. Jacob had many possessions and would not have had to worry about giving away a few things; the fact that he gave away so much this time round should not worry us because he was doing that to smooth the way forward. But after getting over that last hurdle, he still moved forward slowly to care for those around him.

God is like that with us. If we run off in the other direction, He is going to come after us to try and draw us back to Him. If we cannot cope with the pace of everything around us He will slow things down. But He is not going to slow things down just so that we can watch the flowers grow around us. Instead He is going to drive us as fast as we can cope with, and when we start to get disgruntled He may well give us more so that we can cope with the new pace rather than slowing down the rest of the world so we can catch up in our own minds. God knows how much we can take and He will try to get us to understand that limit as well.

Points to Ponder:
Do you find the world too much to cope with?

Are you listening to God to find out how to cope?