Legacy of Righteousness

"We do not fight the British any longer in America. Nor should Jacob continue to upset Esau."

MAN WAS MADE to look like God. Created in His image after His likeness. Yet, by Noah’s day, man looked nothing like His Maker at all. All men were violent, every imagination of the heart, only evil continually. That word “violence” in Genesis 6:13, is very familiar — châmâs.

Jacob stole from his brother, Esau. Through deception, taking his birthright and his blessing. Ishmael mocked Isaac, and Sarah, the wife of Abraham, cast him out. Contention between brothers goes back to the beginning where Cain killed Abel. Violence that begat violence, until as already stated, all men were châmâs. Only Noah found grace in God’s eyes.

The flood which killed all mankind, except Noah’s family, did not remove violence from the heart. But it began a legacy of righteousness which stretched forth to Abraham and from him, the entire world. Righteousness is to have a heart like God’s, and on any scale, that requires His mercy and forgiveness. In Noah’s day and later, in Abraham’s, it meant continual worship through sacrifices and faith in God’s goodness. Abraham trusted God enough to lay his son of promise on the altar, saying even if God had to resurrect him from the dead, he trusted God that much.

Joseph ended up in Egypt because of his brothers’ hatred. Yet, we’re told he was blessed there in such abundance that eventually, he was so powerful, he stood just under Pharaoh. The story that always grabs me here is that of his brother, Judah, who stood up for Benjamin, his half-brother, (Joseph’s full brother). They’d been asked by Joseph, who they didn’t recognize, to go get Benjamin. Then Joseph concocted a scheme which appeared to condemn Benjamin for a crime. But Judah wasn’t going to let go of one of his brothers again, as they’d done so long ago. He would not make that mistake twice. So he offered himself in exchange. And Joseph began to weep.

When the Promised Land was parceled out, generations later, part of the capital city, Jerusalem, went to Judah’s descendants and part of it went to Benjamin’s. Forever, these brothers would be intertwined. Esau forgave Jacob, and they embraced, there in the middle of the road. Jacob had feared the reunion, but in the end, love won out. Abraham pleaded a blessing for his son, Ishmael, and God said he would be a great nation. But the blessing of nations, plural, would go to Isaac. God protected Cain, after he slew Abel, though he would wander forever and not be able to grow crops again, no man would kill him.

READ "Friends. Brothers."

What’s my point? That Jesus selected twelve disciples, become apostles, who had very little in common, yet they went on to preach the gospel to the world. They became brothers through their unity in Christ, with love toward each other, including Paul when he came into the circle, and others like Barnabas, Apollos, and Timothy, who also did God’s work.

Contention, strife, and anger are of the devil and only further his evil schemes. There is never any situation anywhere that calls for untamed emotions. We are now, because of Jesus, to walk every moment in the Spirit, hearing His voice. And if our flesh flares up, and anger is the result, if our mouth sets things afire, then we weren’t listening to Him at all and forgiveness is needed. Because from the mouth we reap destruction, or with our words we are profited and blessed.

“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” (Psalms 37:8-11)

Men outside of Christ know only what is produced in the mind. They seek to foster hatred between brothers that God has, long ago, resolved. We do not fight the British any longer in America. Nor should Jacob continue to upset Esau. Peace in the Middle East will come because of Christ’s return, and until then, we are to desire the safety and healing of Israel and Jerusalem, in the manner Judah did to protect his youngest brother, Benjamin, so long ago. We pray for their peace and seek our own, Republican and Democrat, North and South, New York and California and all the landscape in between.

That seeking requires something of us — patience and our deliberate faith-filled choice of words. That we speak over this nation what God says of her and not news pundits, ungodly men, and our own anger. We cannot sing “God bless America” or speak God’s goodness over anyone with hate in our heart. Jacob had to apologize to Esau. Noah had to build a boat. Then after the flood, being one of eight people on the earth, he offered sacrifice which he’d carried with him for 370 days. And God made him a promise, which continues to this day.

“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-16)

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com