The O.T. Part XI
Genesis 32:1-21
Ode to the Pea (or Is it Really an Ode to Broccoli?)
By Ryan Russell
Peas are green
Peas are round
Peas can be sweet
Peas can be brown
When I eat a pea
I like it to be warm
Cleaned of all juice
and next to some corn.
Black-eyed peas taste ok
Though they must have lost the fight
You can find them in a can
Or in concert Saturday night.
One pea, two peas, three peas, four
Sometimes Athan eats them off the floor.
Ok,that's enough pea poetry.
They're just not that important to me.
Yes, sometimes I'll eat them
And sometimes I'll mix them
With chicken and rice and then I will heat them.
But my love for the pea is not for better or worse
And certainly not enough to keep writing this verse.
Their roundness and greeness and moundness and beanness
Will not let me ingnore their seamlessness and meanness.
When needing some goodness of vegetable foodness
The pea I will continue to eat less and less.
Peas were my favorite, peas were the best
But now I give favor to all of the rest
But broccoli. Mmmmm broccoli.
Steamed and smothered in cheese.
If I must choose between peas and these.
You can be sure I'll say "no more peas please."
No, this week's Bible Study was not about peas, although Christie did a great job of playing her part in the planned pea eating contest. (Congrats Courtney on winning the "impromptu" contest). See, even though this week's bible study was not about peas, it was about the word "appease". That's what we in Youth Ministry like to call a play on words (I'm pretty sure a few other people use that phrase too...) and what I hope will become a visual reminder of the truth taught Sunday night. (From now on anytime you see a pea you will think of how Jacob tried to appease his brother, Esau, and how we sometimes treat God the same way...as someone who can easily be appeased with just a few gifts, of which he already owns!)
So, let's look at this passage and see what we can learn from what Jacob did wrong in Genesis 32:
(You'll have to get your own Bible to read along because I am not going to type out the whole passage here!)
V1: Jacob sees that God is with Him-this should give him comfort in going to meet his brother, because it is what saved him from the wrath of Laban in Chapter 31. God had already physically protected him from someone that wanted to kill him, why should he fear Esau?
V2-5: Here we see Jacob trying the play the "like me because of all the stuff I have" instead of telling Esau "hey bro, God is with me, so let's talk." Jacob shows trust in his stuff over trusting in God.
V6-8: Now Jacob tries to get smart and protect his stuff because he is scared of what Esau and his 400 men might do to him.
V9-12: This prayer, read without seeing Jacob's actions surrounding the prayer, could be seen as a very trusting in God sort of prayer. He is remembering and "trusting" God to fulfill his promises. But his attitude actually (as shown by his actions in the next 7 verses) is one of "Oh God, you promised me this and now you have brought me to die...don't forget God, you promised to make ME a great nation." Jacob has a selfish attitude. He does not want to see God's promises fulfilled for the sake of God's Kingdom, but for the sake of saving his own butt.
V13-19: So, what was that action that showed Jacob was not fully trusting God? He fully trusts his stuff to appease Esau. He sends all these gifts to Esau basically saying "here, have my stuff and don't kill me."
V20: Jacob did all this to appease Esau. There is the key word for this passage.
Jacob was not willing to take responsibility for his actions. In fact, we see that in v21 when he sent all that stuff to Esau he stayed back at the camp, not even going to seek forgiveness from his brother.
When we just try to appease people by giving them stuff instead of admitting that we were wrong, we are taking a very prideful and selfish approach to our relationships.
We need to get beyond appeasement and truly seek forgiveness in our relationships with people and our relationship with God.
When we just try to appease God for our sin against him, then we are treating him like an idol who needs to be sacrificed to.
When we try to appease God by giving more offering or going on a mission trip, but we never agree with him that sin in our life is truly sin, he says that he detests our efforts. (check out Psalm 51 and Isaiah 64:6).
Stop trying to appease God for your sin. You can't do it. Just confess your sin (agree with God that it is sin) and seek forgiveness from him.
Just like Jacob's attitude toward Esau should have been one of brokeness and seeking forgiveness instead of trying to make up for what he had done, our attitude should be one of brokeness before God, seeking forgiveness.
That, and only that, will please him.
No comments:
Post a Comment