The freedom gained when we forgive and are forgiven <3

Oh I am so thankful to be reading through the Bible again this year!

I missed it in 2017- cheated myself out of a good year in God’s Word!

Yes, I read Scripture – but honestly…just taking chunks in every day is amazing.

Do it.

Because you find nuggets that can be stored up like a treasure that is richer than gold and will feed that soul hunger that we don’t even realize we are trying to satiate in other ways.

Like today.

Today I watched Jacob pack up his large family and flocks and possession and head on back to his homeland.

Back to his father and his family.

And, oh yeah…

back to face his brother.

The one he had traded a meal for an inheritance and then stole the blessing from.

That one.

The one he had run away from to avoid death by revenge.

And now he is going to have to encounter him and face the consequences.

So he sends an outrageous amount of gifts ahead of him and lines his family up in order of who he feels he could spare the most…Rachel and his beloved Joseph at the rear…in hopes they will be able to escape unharmed should Esau and his army decide to fight.

But what a delightful surprise the Lord has worked in Esau.

Granted, his descendants will be a constant headache and heartache for the nation of Israel in the centuries to come and even to this day and til Christ returns.

However, on the road back home, the two brothers meet and Scripture records this exchange between  Esau and his younger-by-seconds brother….

Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met? (the gifts of flocks and such that had preceded Jacob and his family on the road)

And he (Jacob) said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.”

But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”

Genesis 33:8 & 9 NKJV

Imagine.

Imagine all the years that Esau had bitterly mourned the loss of his father’s blessing.

All the years he had to nurse the bitterness of his brother – AND MOTHER’S – betrayal.

And now he had Jacob, all the abundance of his gain…his wives and children…all of it…vulnerably hand-delivered to him and his four hundred men.

But something had happened.

Something took away the anger and the bitterness.

Something in him was softened and able to let go.

It had to be forgiveness.

Oh to let God do such a work in me that when I see face to face the one who’s hand worked pain and loss in my life; who seemingly stole the blessing I had thought would be mine…that I could say…you owe me nothing.

The Lord has richly blessed me.

Keep what you have.

Jacob told his brother that this being forgiven so graciously was like seeing God’s face.

This short passage touches my heart today.

Only God can work that kind of forgiveness in our wounded hearts and spirits.

And when we give Him that space and authority, others will see Him and He will receive the glory.

Blessings on you today dear ones.

Life is hard and we get hurt.

But to forgive and be forgiven is like seeing the Face of God <3