Soften their hearts with gifts

Wednesday 1-13-16 (Home in Modesto, California)     

Scripture reading for today:    Gen 31 - 33      Luke 13

S=Scripture  O=Observation  A=Application  P=Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S.  Gen 32:6-7  Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."  So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed...

Vs 20-21  “...say, 'Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me." So the present went on over before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp. NKJV

Gen 32:6-7 Now Jacob’s messengers returned.  “Yep, we found your brother Esau alright.  He had blood in his eyes and he is coming to meet you with four hundred angry men.”  Jacob knew he was dead meat.

Vs 20-21  “Tell him, Your slave, Jacob is right behind us.”  Jacob thought, “I will kill his anger with kindness before he sees me.  Perhaps then he will receive me.” So Jacob stayed behind and sent all these presents to Esau ahead of him.  NUHV*

O.  Big trouble.  Esau had hated Jacob since he had cheated him out of his birthright and even had stolen the blessing of their dying father, Isaac.  Jacob had fled for his life.  Now decades had passed and Jacob was coming home with his family.  Without a miracle there would certainly be a massacre.  Jacob prayed and got a “God-like” idea.  He sent “presents” to Esau ahead of him... 5 separate droves of livestock, one by one... totaling over 550 animals. 

A.  Frances’ father had died when she was 12.  A few years later her mother remarried.  But her step dad had suffered a hard life and passed it on to his step children.  Laughing or expressions of joy at the table were not permitted.  He worked hard and paid the bills, but knew little about kindness.  Now we hadn’t seen Frances’ mother and step dad for years since we had been serving as missionaries in Argentina.  With high anticipation we tapped on the back door of the large house where Frances had grown up.  Her step dad answered the door.  With obvious anger he yelled, “What do you want?” We were stunned!  We had no idea that I had unwittingly offended him years earlier.  We stuttered, “We... we... we have just come to see you.”  “Well, now you have seen me.  Goodbye!” and he slammed the door in our faces without allowing Frances to see her mother.  

We returned to Argentina determined to win his favor.  We sent him letters filled with love and nice cards and gifts for his birthday without ever mentioning the above encounter.  Four years later he received us kindly.  And when we told him we loved him, he said... “Well, I don’t deserve it.”  The culture in which he had grown up would never stoop to apologize, but this was close enough.  He had found a loving family that did not write him off for past unkind actions.

P.  Heavenly Father, too many people cannot fathom Your kind of love. They have grown up in a culture of “every man for himself.” Hatred is treasured and nurtured in the heart until it grows violent.  They have never witnessed forgiveness and undeserved love.  But I have been privileged to find that love... that mercy... that grace in You.  I pray today for Muslims.  Some of them have been taught hatred from childhood and know nothing of Your wonderful undeserved love... love so great that You sacrificed Your Only Son to die in our place.  Teach us how to reach them with Your message of real love... Your kind of love.  We need Your wisdom.  Maybe, like Jacob, we could soften their hearts with gifts.  Amen.

Ralph

*New Unauthorized Hiatt Version