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Desperation or Inspiration

Words of Faith Final

Desperation or Inspiration
Words of Faith 5-20-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL    
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 28
    So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. [2] Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. [3] May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. [4] May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham." [5] Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
    [6] Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, "Do not marry a Canaanite woman," [7] and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. [8] Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; [9] so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

        There are some moments in life when we discover that things are messed up, and there is very little that we can do to fix them. This was one of those moments.  
        Esau was watching his family blow apart. This family disaster was not entirely his fault, but he had done his share of the damage. Everyone had participated in this misery, but Esau's sin and anger toward Jacob had significantly contributed to the family's disintegration. Like children so often do, Esau blamed himself and thought he could fix things.
          More than anything, Esau desperately wanted the approval of his father. He had never been close to his mother, but he had always been Isaac's favorite. Now the blessing was upon Jacob. Esau heard that Isaac had again blessed Jacob and had sent him off to Rebekah's clan to find a wife. Esau also heard how displeasing his marriages to Canaanite women were to his father, so he reached for an answer.
          Esau came up with a solution! He would marry within the clan as well! If his first wives did not please Isaac, he would just try another! He would fix things in his own ingenuity, strength, and flesh!  
         So, in a desperate attempt to please his father, Esau married a descendant of Abraham through Ishmael. Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael, was a cousin of Esau. The irony of this effort was that the unchosen son of Isaac married into the unchosen line of Ishmael!  
         What was wrong here? Esau still did not get it. He did not understand that he could not fix things in his flesh. The answers had never been a matter of the flesh.  
        Once again, he did not seek God for a solution to all this. He was still operating as a godless man (Hebrews 12:16). In desperation, he was reaching for a blessing that he would never receive and trying to restore relationships that were now gone. These were acts of desperation rather than inspiration.
        People today often encounter an Esau situation. Things are messed up. Families are broken. There may be many reasons, but we must face our sinful contribution.  
        People often attempt an Esau solution. We try desperately to fix things in our own flesh, but the answer lies in surrendering to the Lord. The flesh will never restore what the flesh has destroyed. Only the Spirit of God can bring restoration. We need acts of inspiration rather than desperation.
         The good news is that this story is not over! We will see that though Esau started out holding an angry grudge, when Jacob returns, Esau will run to meet Jacob and embrace him, throw his arms around his neck and kiss him. They will weep (33:4). The brothers will be reconciled, and Esau will partake of Jacob's blessing (33:11). But this will not come as a result of fleshly efforts.
          Are you dealing with an impossible situation? Are you facing some consequence of your sin as a contributing factor to brokenness? Have you been trying desperately to fix things on your own? Have you tried in your flesh to gain approval and blessing?  
         These are godless solutions, acts of desperation. There is only one faith solution: to surrender to the Lord. Ask Him where to go from here. Ask for inspiration. His approval is all that you need. Today is a new day with new possibilities. The pain of the past will be with us, but with the strength of God, we can move forward.

           Father, I surrender to You. I surrender the frail efforts of my flesh to try and gain the approval of men and the blessing I long for. Forgive me. I realize there is no answer apart from seeking You and walking in Your ways. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.