<\/p>\n
Then Esau said, \u201cWhat\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0you\u00a0mean by<\/em>\u00a0all this company which I met?\u201d And he said, \u201cThese are to find favor in the sight of my lord.\u201d But Esau said, \u201cI have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>(Genesis 33:8-9)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When Jacob was last in the presence of his brother Esau, he heard his twin vow to kill him at his earliest opportunity. That was more than enough to make Jacob run as far as he could to the east, until he met and married into his mother\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
Now, after 20 years, Jacob was returning to Canaan and knew he would meet Esau. Jacob was terrified, remembering Esau\u2019s threats and knowing his brother was the kind of rough man who could fulfill every violent promise.<\/p>\n
Jacob hoped to calm Esau\u2019s temper with gifts. According to Genesis 32:13-20, Jacob\u2019s gift included 220 goats, 60 camels, 40 cows, 10 bulls, and 30 donkeys. After receiving the gift, Esau finally met Jacob and first said to him,\u00a0What do you mean by all this company which I met?<\/strong>\u00a0Jacob\u2019s generous gifts confused Esau. He did not expect them, showing that he had no sense of superiority over Jacob or did not have a strong sense that Jacob owed him.<\/p>\n
The true beauty of Esau\u2019s character is found in the phrase he used to reply to Jacob:\u00a0I have enough<\/strong>. He initially refused his brother\u2019s generous gift because was content with what he had. Esau wasn\u2019t dominated by the itch to have more and more. He had enough.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a great thing for every believer to say:\u00a0I have enough<\/strong>. It communicates the heart of what Paul described in 1 Timothy 6:6:\u00a0Godliness with contentment is great gain<\/em>. This godly contentment is essential, yet difficult for many reasons.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Saying\u00a0I have enough<\/strong>\u00a0is only truly possible when the heart is rooted in eternal things; and contentment is essential because it shows we are living with an eternal perspective, not only trying to feather an earthly nest.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Saying\u00a0I have enough<\/strong>\u00a0is difficult, because modern consumer culture feeds our lack of contentment, by rewarding us when we are discontent, and with advertising that tries to make us feel discontent without buying a certain item or experience.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Saying\u00a0I have enough<\/strong>\u00a0is difficult, because we almost always desire far more than we need.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy for many Christians to say they have this contentment; but whether they have it or not is often more truthfully known by looking at their spending and shopping habits. How much of a place does shopping and buying have in your life? How does the loss of material things affect your happiness? How happy do you get from having some material thing?<\/p>\n
Esau\u2019s peace and contentment showed him to be a remarkably blessed man, though he did not receive the promise of the Abrahamic covenant as he had hoped.<\/p>\n
\nThere is one area in our life we should never be content with, our growth, maturity, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and discernment of the Word of God and its application in our lives so that our thoughts are taken captive, our words are full of grace, mercy, and love, and our actions are Holy Spirit led for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Then Esau said, \u201cWhat\u00a0do\u00a0you\u00a0mean by\u00a0all this company which I met?\u201d And he said, \u201cThese are to find favor in the sight of my lord.\u201d But Esau said, \u201cI have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.\u201d\u00a0(Genesis 33:8-9) When Jacob was last in the presence of his brother Esau, he heard his twin … Continue reading “53.u. Genesis 33:8-9”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7804,9731,18477],"class_list":["post-194498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-esau","tag-find-favor","tag-keep-what-you-have"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194498"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194501,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194498\/revisions\/194501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}