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Proceed with Caution

Words of Faith Final

Proceed with Caution
Words of Faith 6-17-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 33
[12] Then Esau said, "Let us be on our way; I'll accompany you."
[13] But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. [14] So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir."
[15] Esau said, "Then let me leave some of my men with you."
"But why do that?" Jacob asked. "Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord."
[16] So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. [17] Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Succoth.
[18] After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. [19] For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. [20] There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.

The reunion of Jacob and Esau was powerful and dramatic. These two brothers were able to put the problems and sins of the past behind them and express a genuine and deep love for each other.
But now what? Were they to throw their clans together after all these years? Would Esau and his Hittite wives simply mix in with the growing family of Jacob from Haran? Hmmm. It could be difficult.
Jacob showed a great deal of wisdom when he suggested to Esau that they go slow with this. It was better that they travel separately. After twenty years apart, it was not so much a lack of trust. It was the reality that these were still very different men leading very different families. Jacob politely excused himself to remain behind Esau's protective regiment. This was a time for caution. Proceeding in this relationship called for some care.
Jacob did not want anything from Esau except peace. Jacob realized that it made more sense to head in different directions but wanted to do so in love and peace. Jacob also knew that there was no sense in pretending to be closer than they ever could really be. Jacob and Esau were clearly cut from different cloth in the best of situations. They had charted their lives in entirely different directions. The point here was not to pretend that those differences did not exist.
The truth was that Esau would never be the brother that Jacob might have hoped for and vice versa. So how did Jacob find the peace to accept that?
Frankly, Jacob came from a pretty lousy family. His father and mother played favorites and communicated poorly. The house was full of manipulation. His brother was more concerned for his stomach than for the family's destiny. At this point, Jacob could have tried in earnest to create the family he never had and the brother he never had. But Jacob had learned that his ultimate fulfillment in all those relationships is found in God alone.
There is a significant point of wisdom here. We don't have to be cozy and close to someone to be at peace with them. Reconciliation doesn't always mean that intimacy is created if there never was intimacy before. Forgiveness also doesn't mean that we open ourselves to the same painful occurrences that created a problem in the first place. We can be at peace and still proceed with caution and some distance.
Are you seeking to be reconciled to someone? It may sound strange, but don't expect too much. Or at least don't expect something that was never there before. Don't expect someone to be something that they never were. Don't expect people to fulfill needs that only God can satisfy.
We can look for peace in certain relationships. Still, the sober reality is that some people will never be the mother or father we always wanted. They will not become the sister or brother we dreamed of or daughter or son we imagined. Some will never be the Christian brother or sister that we desire them to be. But there can be love. God can empower us to love that person for who they are rather than what we want them to be, and there can be peace.

Father God, help me to find peace in the relationships of life without expecting too much. Give me the grace to receive the relationships that are possible and rejoice in the healing that You are doing. Give me the grace to accept those around me for who they are and what they can genuinely offer. Help me to find all that I need in You and to love others unconditionally. 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.