Genesis 33:10-11

New International Version

No, please! said Jacob. If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 

For Encouragement

A friend shared a story with me about President Nelson Mandela and an incident at a restaurant. After being elected President of South Africa, Mandela stopped by a restaurant for lunch with his entourage. At the front table, there sat a man waiting for service. Mandela requested one of his soldiers to invite the man to join them at their table. The man’s hands trembled throughout the meal, and he couldn’t bring himself to look up from his food. After bidding farewell, he departed without acknowledging the person who had extended the invitation. That shocked the soldiers, who concluded that the man must be unwell. However, Mandela clarified that the man was a former warden from the maximum-security prison on Robben Island, where Mandela had endured twenty-seven years of imprisonment. The warden had often subjected Mandela to torture and humiliation, going to the extreme of urinating into Mandela’s cupped hands when he thirsted for water. Now, with Mandela as his President, the warden feared the retribution that might await him. This story is a powerful testament to the transformative power of forgiveness.

Jacob offended his brother, Esau, through cunning deceit, twice taking his birthright and stealing his blessing from their dying father. The offense drove a wedge between the two, with Esau vowing to kill his brother and Jacob running away to live with their uncle.

After many years, Jacob returns to his country and prepares to meet Esau to reconcile. Esau has forgiven Jacob but comes with four hundred armed men to meet him. Jacob, still afraid of retaliation from his brother, approaches with four herds of sheep as gifts to appease him. Esau rushes to embrace his brother with kisses and weeping, yet Jacob remains fearful and cold. He declines his brother’s offer to accompany him and his family (Gen. 33:12-15). So, Esau leaves Jacob, who promised to join Esau at Seir even though he wasn’t. Though God has caused Esau to forgive his brother, Jacob cannot accept Esau’s forgiveness, so they part company. Many Christians find themselves in the same predicament. They live in fear of God’s wrath for a particular sin they committed many years ago.

The good news is that God, by His love and infinite mercy, has worked forgiveness for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. By His perfect life and sacrifice on Calvary, Christ has taken away our sins and reconciled us to Himself (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1;14; 2 Cor. 5:19). As God says in Isaiah, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isa 43:25). Yet many believers find it difficult to accept His total forgiveness. They cannot believe that God’s forgiveness covers all their sins, and that He remembers them no more.

May the Lord help us apprehend the full extent of His love through the cross of Calvary and the truth of His total forgiveness (Col. 2:13-14). Forgive yourself, dear believer, and enjoy the liberty that comes through the Spirit of God in Christ. Remember, self-forgiveness is as essential as seeking forgiveness from others. Amen!