WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: This day, like every other, is a gift from above. Plans, arrangements, preparations, meetings are in the sight of the living God. Turn to him and let him rejoice and love you as give yourself afresh to Jesus.

A brother’s embrace
This could have gone badly wrong. Jacob’s fears might have been vindicated. He might have experienced revenge and bitter conflict. It is understandable that his pulse was probably racing and his mind tormented as he met his somewhat unpredictable and unstable sibling!

But Jacob’s steep learning curve continues. He anticipated malice but experienced an embrace. As far as reconciliation goes it doesn’t get much better than this. Both brothers weep and Jacob is totally disarmed, broken by the kindness of a brother.

The goodness of God
The man who dreamt of God’s house, and who had seen his face (32:30), compares his brother’s demeanour to that of God’s. At every stage in this narrative he discovers that God has gone before him.

Once more, Jacob emphasises the power of symbolic memory. After Bethel (28:19) and Peniel (32:30), this story closes with El Elohe Israel (v 20, NIV), meaning the mighty God of Israel. Wherever he goes, he builds structures that exalt the goodness of God.

Respond: Think of the people you love the most; bring their faces to mind. What do you feel when you think of them? Are you able to say, like Jacob, that they remind you of God’s kindness? Remember too that in the face of Jesus we see the Father’s love.

http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-07-26