STEPS & STOPS

GENESIS 33

Pastor Rick Jackson

As I studied this chapter I was reminded of two other areas of Scripture.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

And Eph. 5. I think you'll understand why as we study God's Word together.

I. WALK IN LOVE [v. 1-6]

Ephesians 5:1-2 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

1. Love of Family [v. 1-3]

2. Love of Reconciliation [v. 4]

3. Love of Grace [v. 5-6]

II. WALK IN LIGHT [v. 7-16]

Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

1. Declaration of enough [v. 8-9, 11]

...both Esau and Jacob are reported as saying, "I have enough" (9, 11). However, the Hebrew words are different. Actually Esau said, "I have much [rab]," whereas Jacob said, "I have everything [kol]." Esau may quite likely have had more actual possessions than Jacob by this time, though Jacob had been greatly blessed materially; but Jacob knew that, in the Lord, he had an inexhaustible resource. God had blessed him beyond measure, most of all now in this joyful meeting with his long-estranged twin brother. -Dr. Henry Morris

2. Delighting in an occasion [v. 10-11]

Compare the use of the term blessing in Gn. 27:35, 36, 38, 41; 28:4, 33:11 and Hebrews 7:7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

3. Declining an Offer [v. 12-16]

III. WALKING CIRCUMSPECTLY [v. 17-20]

Ephesians 5:15-17 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

1. Care of Beasts [v. 17, 13]

Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

2. Care of Belonging [v. 18-19]

Like his grandfather Abraham, Jacob knew this land would one day be his descendants but purchased a small piece in faith looking toward that day!

Joshua 24:32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

3. Care of Belief [v. 20]

"God, the God of Israel"

Genesis 28:15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of
Genesis 31:3 And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.
Genesis 33:18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.