Our Own Path as we Follow God

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

OUR OWN PATH AS WE FOLLOW GOD

Gen 33:12-20

12 Then Esau said, "Let us be on our way; I'll accompany you." 13 But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. 14 So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir." 15 Esau said, "Then let me leave some of my men with you." "But why do that?" Jacob asked. "Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord." 16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. 17 Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Succoth. 18 After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. 20 There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.  

NIV

We know that Jacob was following the orders of the Lord God, as he told him, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives and I will be with you.” According to what maps we can find Seir is more south and Succoth is more to the north, although both are in the land of Cannan, the territory promised to Abraham. Why Jacob did not want to go with Esau directly back to the same place Esau’s camp we can only conclude from our own thoughts, for we are not told exactly or directly Jacob’s reasoning for not wanting Esau or his men to accompany Jacob in his travels back to the land of his Father. Jacob had to take his own path at his own pace back to the place God had directed him. He could not follow Esau’s path or his pace back to Seir but instead, he followed the path God had laid out for him to Succoth. Both places are in the land God promised to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, but Jacob had to camp a distance from Esau’s camp. We could think this was because of the size of his herds and flocks that needed the open range away from Esau’s herds and flocks. But thinking about our own story, we know we cannot follow another’s path as we follow God together. Although we are of the same flock of Jesus our Great Shepherd, we each have a path God has laid out for us as individuals. We can see this within our own lives. We have been called to be at a specific local church according to the plan of God. We each have been given specific gifts to ministry to the rest of the body, according to the plan of God. We cannot travel at the same pace as another in the growth of our faith or our understanding of the truth. God has lit the path of each of us, perhaps in a slightly different way, although we are all traveling to the same end place, the land of promise. No matter where we pitch our tent, so to speak, we are an altar of El Elohe Israel, the God Almighty of Israel. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Holy breath of God Almighty. However, as with Jacob, we each must walk that path to the promised land in the way God has directed us. Let us always be in harmony with God, hearing his voice, following the path he has laid out for us at the pace he walks with us, yet also living in harmony with each other no matter where God has each of us placed within the body, and how fast or slow he has set the pace for us as we travel that path he leads us on to His truth.