Message: What stood out to me in Genesis 28
was the fact that Esau was paying attention to the fact that his parents steered
Jacob away from the Canaanite women and instead sent him off to his uncle to
find a wife. Since this is what his parents wanted, he did the exact opposite and married one of Ishmael’s
daughters. I have seen this behavior with kids and if I’m really honest, I can
recognize that same rebellion within myself. I didn’t marry out of rebellion,
but I have definitely felt a rebellious streak come over me when I am bitter
toward someone in authority. I have definitely felt this way at work before!
Command: We don’t hear anything more about
Esau after this, but the command I would go back to is the one we read
yesterday when his father told him that he was to serve his brother.
Promise: The promise also draws back from yesterday’s
reading because his father also told him that when he is ready, he will shake
off the yoke. To me this is far more powerful than it sounds!
Warning: The warning here was not to marry the
Canaanite women.
Application: I felt busted on this one today! As I
mentioned in the message portion, I have definitely felt a streak of rebellion come
over me when an authority figure has offended me. It makes me want to do the
exact opposite of what they are saying-even if what they are advising makes
perfect sense! What IS that??? Obviously as an adult I don’t have a lot of
authority figures over my life. I have a boss, we all have police officers and government
officials, and we have spiritual authorities like pastors and mentors. Just in
case you might be struggling to relate, the authority figure doesn’t
necessarily have to be one that rules over you.It could be an authority
like a manager of owner over a place that you are visiting. Maybe you
accidentally broke a rule and were corrected (or even just politely advised!).
Maybe you were denied something because of a rule. Maybe you received a late fee
or were denied access to something. Whatever it was it may have caused an
offense. Now you’re irritated that you were called out or felt rejected and you
want to rebel. I have definitely felt this on more occasions than I’d like to
admit. I’m not an “act out” kind of person though so I tend to feel it inwardly
but still comply. I have a mousepad on my desk at work with Colossians 3:23
written on it reminding me to do my work as unto the Lord and not men. I need
this reminder because often times I am frustrated with the system, and the
people that manage it even though I deeply care about them on a personal level.
When I am offended by the way things are managed I feel a tension inside
because I know the right thing to do, but because of my offense I really want
to rebel against it. I had to apologize to my office manager one day because
she came and asked me (very politely) to do something a certain way because it
would benefit someone else in the office who has a pattern of disrespect to our
coworkers and often manipulates and demands her own way. The behavior is
usually justified or ignored so I had an offense built already. When the
request was politely made by my office manager I was immediately offended so I
gave several very logical reasons why I couldn’t or shouldn’t have to do it
that way. My office manager heard me out, but deep inside I knew that there was
no reason I couldn’t do what she asked me to do. I felt deeply convicted and
had to go apologize. I let her know that it was disrespectful of me to refute
her request just because I was offended by it. I immediately felt better and I
have found that since then I have an easier time with requests like that. I
still have feelings about the other coworker’s behavior, but I am not working
for her. I am working for God and my attitude matters. Even if nobody else can
see it.
