Good morning all!
Father, we are grateful for a new day to praise Your name and declare Your goodness. I pray Lord that we would see Your glory today, to be aware of Your presence in our life and to see Your face, Amen. What do you suppose God sees when He looks in the mirror?
Genesis 33
8 And he said, What [meanest] thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, [These are] to find grace in the sight of my lord.
Esau said, What’s with all these flocks of sheep in front of me? Jacob said, for you to find grace in what you see.
9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.
But Esau said, I have enough myself brother; keep these for yourself.
10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
No, please! said Jacob. If I have found grace in your eyes, accept this gift. Now that I have seen your face, it is like seeing the face of God, because you are pleased to see me.
Bottom line
This is such a powerful story, as many of you know Jacob swindled his brother Esau out of his birthright. Scripture declares that Esau hated his brother for the offense and wanted to kill him, and yet here in the passage above when they finally meet again we see a much different outcome. Where’s the fight? Where’s the hate? Where’s the killing? No instead we find the story ends with grace. Church, I submit if you’re story doesn’t end with grace then you haven’t seen the end of your story yet. Now remember at this point Jacob has wrestled with God so you know what that means, right?
[Gen 32:30 KJV] And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Two things I’d like to point out, first Jacob saw the face of God and second, he was preserved NOT destroyed. And now when he sees his brother after many years of separation he says it’s as though he’s looking at the face of God again. Is it possible for us to see God in one another? Is it possible the story ends with reconciliation? Now when we think about the face of God spiritually speaking what does that look like to you? Do we have the same identity? Let’s start with God’s eyes, what color are they?
[Gen 6:8 KJV] But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Noah was preserved NOT destroyed, when he looked into God’s eyes he saw GRACE. Based on scripture the face of God includes eyes of grace, what about his lips? Num 7:89 Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him. God’s lips can only speak mercy, it is true forgiveness without any expectation. And what about His ears?
[3Jo 1:4 KJV] I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. We should have ears that hear joy because we walk (live) by the truth of God’s word…also known as obedience. When Jacob saw his brother he saws eyes of grace, lips of mercy and ears of joy…I have enough. The truth is when we believe we have the spirit of Christ within in us, don’t we all have enough? Is there something more? Hmm…
[Col 3:11 KJV] Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ [is] all, and in all. Not much I can add to that verse, the spirit of Christ is in every man…the face of God and that’s all that matters…we have enough! I do think it begins with the eyes, that is to say, we need to see things in life differently with eyes of grace just like our Father. Let me ask you a question this morning, what do you see today? Sin or grace?
[Mat 7:3 NIV] “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? It’s one or the other it can’t be both…may we see only with the eyes of our Father…when we do we’ll find the face of God.
Point to Ponder
What about the judgement seat of God? [Zec 7:9 KJV] Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother. True judgment executes mercy and compassion to EVERY man…why else would scripture declare we are seated at the right hand of the Father? Best seat in the house!
Let’s all find the face of God today, In Him Phil
Faith – Family – Friends
