Reconciliation and Healing of a Broken Family 5-2-09

Good Morning, Lord Jesus. You are full of mercy and grace, both merciful and just. Make me more like You each day. I seek Your face and need Your grace. … "Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming …. But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept" (Genesis 33:1-4). Jacob and Esau were two brothers in a dysfunctional family who didn't get along. One betrayed the other's trust; one hated the other's guts. One was always controlling, deceiving, manipulating; one was always despising and neglecting the blessings he had. One was the favorite son of the mother; one was the favorite son of the father. Neither favored the other. Neither trusted the other. Certainly, they didn't love one another as they should. Instead, they resented and judged one another. Finally they did with their feet what they had long since done in their hearts -- they walked away from relationship with one another. Actually, Jacob ran away as fast as he could because Esau was ready to kill him (Genesis 27:41-45). Yet even through all their sin and resentment, bitterness and hardness of heart, You never let go of them or changed Your plans for them. Even as Jacob ran away from his family as fast as he could, You spoke to him of his calling and destiny, Your plans for his future with hope (Genesis 28:13-14). You reminded him that You would always be with him, no matter how far away he ran; and You promised him that one day You would bring him home (v. 28:15). Yet You allowed him the freedom to make his choices and follow the journey of his heart, even as bitter and broken as it was. Through his journey, he would meet his wife (actually, his wives), who would bear him the children who would become the twelve tribes of Israel. One of them would be named Judah, which means the praise of God, out of whose lineage would come the birth of the Messiah. Truly You redeem all things, even our brokenness and sin and hardness of heart. But it was never in Your heart to allow these brothers to keep their hearts hardened toward one another. It was Your desire to restore and redeem their family. So You kept speaking to Jacob about returning to Esau and to the land of his family and destiny (Genesis 31:3). You used the hardships of Jacob's life away from home to turn his heart back towards home, and one day he was ready to return. Yet the closer he came to his reunion with Esau, the more afraid he became as he remembered his sins and his brother's resentment. "Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed" (v. 32:7). He didn't trust Esau's heart to be willing to forgive and let go of the offenses and hurts of the past. So Jacob humbled himself to call on Your name, seeking Your mercy and Your help for his heart and for Esau's heart to be changed and for his destiny to be fulfilled in the land of his family (v. 32:9-12). And that was the night he spent wrestling with God until he saw You "face to face" (v. 32:22-32). There You changed his name to Israel and blessed him with the Father's blessing he had so longed to receive (v. 32:28-29). Because he saw Your face, he was able to face his fears and face his brother. You empowered them both by Your grace to forgive and embrace one another again (v. 33:4). In Esau's heart of forgiveness and willing desire for reconciliation and healing of their hearts and their home, Jacob was able to see Esau in a way he never could before. Through the eyes of forgiveness, having released the past to God, seeing Esau was now "like seeing the face of God" (v. 33:10). Lord God, give me eyes to see those who have hurt me, betrayed me, resented me, failed to forgive me, with the eyes of Your heart. Give them eyes to see me that way too. In my marriage, my family, my church home, in all my relationships that are so vital to the fulfillment of my destiny and theirs', move mightily in our hearts to bring us to the place of forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation. As You give us grace to humbly and fervently seek Your face in prayer, give us grace to see Your face in one another. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I'm excited to be preaching all three services at my home church in Lexington, Kentucky this Sunday, May 3rd, Centenary United Methodist Church at 2800 Tates Creek Rd, where we have our Messiah Ministries office as well ( http://www.centenarylex.com/ ). I pray it will be a time of healing and reconciliation for some deep hurts in our church family, as we choose by God's grace to let go of the past and press on into our destiny, personally and a church (Philippians 3:13-14). Please keep us in your prayers as we thank God for a mighty move in our hearts. If you're in the Lexington area, please come join us for the National Day of Prayer at 6:30 pm Thursday Night May 7th in our main sanctuary at my home church, Centenary United Methodist, 2800 Tates Creek Rd, Lexington, KY (http://www.centenarylex.com/). I will be helping lead our ecumenical gathering, jointly hosted with our neighbor churches, Immanuel Baptist Church and Tates Creek Christian Church. Please come and spread the word. Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: http://www.shop.messiah-ministries.org/ Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --mailto:--MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God"http://www.messiah-ministries.org/ 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502