Daily Devotionals

Discovering Christ Day by Day

Devotional: January 11th

Today’s Reading: Genesis 33-35

“I have enough.”

Genesis 33:9-11

Both Jacob and Esau said, “I have enough.” Their words were the same; but the meaning was not even similar. Those three words displayed a great, great difference between these two brothers. What was the difference between these two men? When we understand the difference between Jacob and Esau, we will understand the difference between God’s elect and the unbeliever in all ages, ties, and circumstances.

Esau’s Contentment

Esau was a lost, unregenerate, reprobate man, a man who found everything he wanted in the world. I understand the teachings of Holy Scripture regarding the sovereign, eternal, unalterable purpose of our God and rejoice in it. However, Esau was a lost man, not because God would not save him, but because he chose the world and the lusts of his flesh rather than Christ. The fact is, if you perish in your sins, if you die without Christ, it will be your own fault alone, no one else’s. You will not be able to blame your eternal ruin on the purpose of God. If you are saved, that will be God’s fault and God’s fault alone. If you are lost, that will be your fault and your fault alone! Esau despised Christ and the gospel of God’s free, saving grace in Christ. That is what was represented in the birthright he despised (Genesis 25:30-34). God left Esau to himself. Because Esau despised God’s birthright, because he despised God’s Son, because he counted Christ a common worthless thing, God left him to himself. Moreover, the Lord God put the world in Esau’s heart to blind him (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Jacob’s Contentment

Jacob was a man blessed of God as the object of his everlasting free grace in Christ. Remember, all that the Scriptures say about Jacob as the object of God’s grace is true of all God’s elect. We are the sons of Jacob. As such, we gladly acknowledge that the only difference between Jacob and Esau is the difference that grace has made. “By the grace of God I am what am!” This is the difference between Jacob and Esau. This is the difference between all who believe and those who do not believe (1 Corinthians 4:7). God loved Jacob (Romans 9:10-26). The Lord chose Jacob (Psalms 135:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; John 15:16). The Lord stopped Jacob in his way and revealed himself to him at Bethel. You will recall that back in Genesis 28 Jacob was running away. But he ran smack into God! He ran into God because God put himself in the way! God met Jacob at Bethel (the house of God) and revealed himself, his grace, his mercy, and his glory in Christ. God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, wrestled with Jacob, made him confess who and what he was, and gave him a new name (Genesis 32:24-31). Beloved, now are we the sons of God. In Christ all things are new. Christ has given us a new name, put us in a new family, and made us partakers of a new covenant! The Lord God led Jacob all his life. He said, “I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of!” That is precisely God’s promise to us (1 Thessalonians 5:24; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 13:5). Let us lean heavily upon it throughout the day.