January 16, Genesis chapter 36
"Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan..." Genesis 36:1
Esau had an evil heart. Yet he was raised by good hearted people. He kept on, over and over, on purpose, going directly against the teaching of his parents. He reminds me of people I've known through the years. Taught to be good and kind all their life, but always clinging to evil. Why? I think it was bitterness. And feeling like life wasn't fair so why even try to do right?
Maybe it all stemmed from bitterness about the birthright He lost. All he had to do was repent, accept his fate, and change his selfish ways. But I think he clung to bitterness. And when Jacob deceived their father and received the Blessing, Esau stacked another reason to be bitter on top of the old bitterness. And on and on. So he proceeded to make wrong choice after wrong choice.
Esau's descendants, the Edomites are recorded in chapter 36.
"Esau (Edom) would go on to become a symbol of unbelief and hostility to God." (commentary, the Daily Bible)
I just don't get why anyone would want to be full of unbelief and hostility to God. It's a lose/lose. I don't want to be that person.
"Dear God, I don't want to be that person! I don't want to be an Esau, who had an evil heart continually. Please give me a soft, mold-able heart You can constantly shape and make like Your heart of compassion. Help me to let go of any bitterness that would creep in and destroy me. Help me to embrace forgiveness and kindness. I ask this in Your precious name, AMEN."
Esau had an evil heart. Yet he was raised by good hearted people. He kept on, over and over, on purpose, going directly against the teaching of his parents. He reminds me of people I've known through the years. Taught to be good and kind all their life, but always clinging to evil. Why? I think it was bitterness. And feeling like life wasn't fair so why even try to do right?
Maybe it all stemmed from bitterness about the birthright He lost. All he had to do was repent, accept his fate, and change his selfish ways. But I think he clung to bitterness. And when Jacob deceived their father and received the Blessing, Esau stacked another reason to be bitter on top of the old bitterness. And on and on. So he proceeded to make wrong choice after wrong choice.
Esau's descendants, the Edomites are recorded in chapter 36.
"Esau (Edom) would go on to become a symbol of unbelief and hostility to God." (commentary, the Daily Bible)
I just don't get why anyone would want to be full of unbelief and hostility to God. It's a lose/lose. I don't want to be that person.
"12 [Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away anddesert or stand aloof from the living God.
13 But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamor of his sin may play on him]." Hebrews 3:12,13
"Who shall ascend into the hill of The Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart" (Psalm 24:3 KJV)
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8 KJV)
"But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." (Luke 8:15 KJV)
"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:21-22 KJV)
"But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.""Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Peter 1:19-23 KJV)
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:19-21 KJV)
"Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence."And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new Spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 11:17-20 KJV)
"Dear God, I don't want to be that person! I don't want to be an Esau, who had an evil heart continually. Please give me a soft, mold-able heart You can constantly shape and make like Your heart of compassion. Help me to let go of any bitterness that would creep in and destroy me. Help me to embrace forgiveness and kindness. I ask this in Your precious name, AMEN."
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