"My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgements."
Ps 119
Thought for Today: Friday December 13
Courage does not exist in being blind to dangers, but seeing and conquering them.
Then he (Jacob) erected there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel. (Gen 33:20)
Jacob's conversion is now complete. He named the place "the mighty God of Israel". He had just been renamed Israel and was no longer saying "the God of my Fathers" but "My God."
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Jacob showed wisdom in dividing his camp as he neared Esau and sending gifts ahead of him. Many small good deeds over time can be more powerful than one great favor. Esau expected anger from Jacob, but found love instead. A gentle answer turns away wrath.
#genesis 32-33 #vayishlach
There are more reasons Jacob might have done this...
https://soilfromstone.blogspot.....com/2016/12/jacobs-
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1 ESV
Regarding the soft answer, consider Jacob's approach to Esau in Genesis 32, .Gideon's flattery of Ephraim in Judges 8, and Abigail saving her family from David in 1 Samuel 25.
Regarding the harsh answer, consider Jephthah being too honest to Ephraim in Judges 12, David provoking Goliath to pride in 1 Samuel 17, and Yeshua's rebuke of the Pharisees in Luke 4.
There's a time for both.
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”
#genesis 32:7-8 #vayishlach
We struggle constantly to balance faith in God's plan with our own responsibility to act. God will preserve his people, no matter what we do, but he still expects us to maintain our roofs, prepare for winter, and even bear arms when necessary.
Like Abraham and Isaac before him, Jacob knew God's promises and believed them, but he didn't know exactly how they would be fulfilled. He acted with the best knowledge he had and God blessed him for it.
In the past young people had the chance to be exposed to the real world. Anyone who grew up on a farm understood how animals reproduce and how food is grown. The people who grew up in an urban environment would often learn about business and travel. Young people learn far more through experience than any other method so we should be very careful to what we expose them. Matthew 18:6, “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
One who is slow to anger shows great understanding, but a quick-tempered one exalts folly.
Proverbs 14:29 TLV
This is the same principle as "turn the other cheek". Take time to understand your opposition and you might discover that they aren't your opposition at all.
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