Today we walk with Jacob through some difficult circumstances, and this is an episode you will want to listen to privately and not with your children.

We'll see the power of the Lord to transform bitter and angry hearts, but we'll also read how righteous anger can be handled unrighteously. Today will conclude our journey with Jacob. It can be hard to go through and say goodbye to these characters so quickly, but let's not forget who the main character of all of this is. It's the Lord Jesus who is coming to set all things right.

Send us your questions for the upcoming Q&A episode with Betsy: stephanie@ewach.com

Looking for some encouragement as you parent a child with impulsive, intense emotions? Listen to the latest episodes of the AGAIN podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-on-biblical-motherhood/id1700555502?i=1000746193883

Today's Reading: Genesis 33-36

Scripture Read or Referenced:

Genesis 33:1-4, 10, 20

Genesis 34

2 Peter 3:13

Genesis 35:3

Welcome to the Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox, and today I am

so thankful that no matter what the

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weather is outside, that the God that

longs to dwell with us is willing

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to meet us right inside our homes.

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This will certainly be an episode that

you'd wanna listen to privately, as

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we'll cover a very sensitive, situation.

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Remember that we're looking for your

questions regarding Genesis and job or any

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parenting questions you have in general.

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Betsy will be sitting down with me to

record this week, and we wanna speak to

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exactly the things that are on your heart.

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I'll link the email

address in the show notes

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in today's reading.

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From Genesis 33 through 36, we see the

power of the Lord to transform bitter

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and angry hearts, but we'll also.

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See how righteous anger can be handled.

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Un righteously today will conclude with

Jacob it can be hard to go through and say

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goodbye to these characters so quickly.

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But let's not forget who the

main character of all of this is.

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It's the Lord.

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Let's hear what we can

learn about him today.

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Yesterday's reading concluded with

Jacob pleading to the Lord to deliver

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him from the hand of his brother.

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He was afraid for his own life,

but also the lives of his wives

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and children, and he sends 550

animals ahead to meet his brother.

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He heard that Esau and 400

men were coming to meet him.

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Remember when he left the land

21 years ago that his brother

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was threatening to murder him.

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His fears are valid,

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yesterday I asked you to be

looking for the moment that

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Jacob calls upon God as his God.

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At the beginning of chapter 33, he

can't delay this reunion anymore.

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Esau is coming towards him, and

Jacob does the honorable thing.

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He puts himself first separating everyone

else and setting them behind him,

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and he humbly approaches Esau, bowing

himself to the ground seven times.

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I can so relate to this tension.

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I can be given over to absolute.

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Worry and anxiety.

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If I get the dreaded three

word text, can we talk?

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I love resolution and working things

through for peace and unity, but

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oh, can I get anxious in the process

when Jacob sends ahead all of these

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550 animals to appease his brother?

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I have to be careful.

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With that tendency in myself to

people please or to Fawn, or to try

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to make th sure that everything's okay

and that I've done all that I can.

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There can be something really godly

about striving for peace, but it can

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also reveal a lack of faith in the Lord.

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Is Jacob trusting that the

Lord will really protect him?

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And do I do that through the years?

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The Lord has actually guided me to make

sure that I fear him first and foremost.

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And if I ever get a hint that someone

might be coming to me to work through

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something, I literally do get on my knees

and ask, Lord, have I sinned before you?

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Is there anything I need

to correct before you?

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And I pray for conviction.

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If I don't hear anything, then

I ask for humility to receive

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anything that the person has for me.

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And this is the way that I'm

trying to train my kids to have

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a stronger fear of the Lord.

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And to want to be holy before him, but to

not give themselves over to a fear of man.

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There is complete evidence that

the Lord has worked and transformed

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Esau as the word tells us.

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But Esau ran to meet him and

embraced him and fell on his neck

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and kissed him, and they wept.

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Jacob tells him, for I have seen

your face, which is like seeing

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the face of God, he's saying, I can

tell God has transformed your heart.

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What a contrast to

chapter four of Genesis.

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It's really encouraging to

see the restoration that God

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worked in these two brothers.

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I.

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After they make peace, Jacob

says, we've gotta slow down.

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This pace is too fast for

the animals and the children.

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I'll catch up with you later.

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And then he buys some

land and don't miss it.

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33 20 says There he erected

an altar and called it

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El Aloi Israel.

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I can't guarantee that I'm pronouncing

it correctly, but I can tell you.

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That this means God, the God of Israel.

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When Jacob who was renamed as

Israel, sees what God has done in

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his brother's heart, this is his

final act of surrender, saying, this

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is my God and I will worship him.

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As we look at chapter 34, I'll

do something a little different

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and I'm actually taking my cue

from something in this chapter.

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I'll read a few verses

and then make a comment.

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Chapter 34 begins.

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Now, Dina, the daughter of Leah,

whom she had born to Jacob, went

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out to see the women of the land.

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When I read that, I

think, of course she did.

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The girl had 11 brothers

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jacob probably did have more daughters,

but scripture specifically tells

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us about Dina because what happens

in this story is so important

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And when Shechem, the son of Haymore,

the Hitite, the prince of the land,

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saw her, he seized her and lay with

her and humiliated her and his soul was

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drawn to Dina, the daughter of Jacob.

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He loved the young woman

and spoke tenderly to her.

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So Shem spoke to his father, Haymore,

saying, get me this girl for my wife.

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Now, Jacob heard that he had defiled

his daughter, Dina, but his sons

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were with the livestock in the field.

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So Jacob held his peace until they came.

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I am trying to be patient with

Jacob here and why he doesn't

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respond with more righteous anger.

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I certainly respect that

he held his peace, but

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it is my perspective that throughout

this chapter, he is very passive.

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And Hamer, the father of Shaham

went out to Jacob to speak with him.

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The sons of Jacob had come in from the

field as soon as they heard of it, and

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the men were indignant and very angry

because he had done an outrageous thing

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in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter

for such a thing must not be done.

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This is a rare but important

interruption in the narrative.

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Usually when the purpose of scripture.

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Is to share these stories.

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We don't generally have these

moral breaks telling us what

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is righteous and unrighteous.

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We have to use all of scripture to

discern, but this is so important that

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God led Moses to tell us right there

in the middle of the story, make sure

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they understand how evil this is.

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But Hamer spoke with them saying, the soul

of my son Shaham longs for your daughter.

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And he tries to convince them, Hey,

why don't we just dwell together?

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We'll marry some of your daughters.

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Which I don't think there were that many.

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You can marry some of our daughters.

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In verse 13, we hear the plot

of Jacob's sons and how they

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wanna handle the situation.

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We know it's deceitful because

scripture flat out tells us the

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sons of Jacob answered Chaum and his

father Haymore deceitfully because

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he had defiled their sister Dina.

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They convinced er, and Shaham to go

back to their people and to circumcise.

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All the males,

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They're not honoring God's purpose

for circumcision, and they're

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certainly using it to accomplish evil.

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So when all of the men are sore from

their surgery, Levi and Simeon come in and

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murder all of the men, Simeon and Levi.

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Our full brothers Edina,

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and that's probably why they were

the most outraged, but the other sons

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come in and steal and plunder the city

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with them.

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They have absolute righteous

anger, but the way that they

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carry it out is not righteous.

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They shouldn't have made all of

the people answer for shems sin.

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It seems that Jacob's

response is pretty fearful.

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About what his sons have done.

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He says, we don't have that many

people, you're making me a stink

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to the inhabitants of the land.

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We're all gonna be destroyed.

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To which his sons responded, should

he treat our sister like a prostitute?

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You would think Jacob would

have more trust after how the

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Lord protected him with Esau.

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But the Lord actually uses his

circumstance to actually put

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fear in the surrounding people.

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Interestingly, my family and I were

sitting at the dinner table this week.

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And I had three sons and then

a daughter, one of my boys said

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to my daughter, if any boy ever

hurts you, oh, he better watch it.

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And she had this sweet smile on her

face knowing that her, brothers love

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her so much that they will protect her.

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And I told my sons, I'm glad you

wanna protect your sister, but do

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you know what your main job is?

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Your main job is to love her so

well now that she would never

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even be tempted to date someone

who didn't treat her honorably.

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That's your charge.

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Love her.

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Well now, and I certainly don't wanna

be insensitive here, but as Simeon

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and Levi acted with impulsivity

and intense emotion, if you're also

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struggling with a kiddo in your home

that's given to these tendencies.

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We just had a couple incredibly

encouraging interviews on how to parent

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A DHD Biblically, on the again, podcast,

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i'll link that in the show

notes because if you're dealing

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with that on a daily basis, you

certainly need some encouragement.

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I am gonna close saying that the Lord

cares so deeply about every person who

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is violated and harmed on this earth.

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Simeon and Levi and all of Jacob's

brothers had righteous anger that their

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sister Dina would be treated this way.

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It's difficult to understand

why there's so much suffering

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and injustice in the world.

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And as believers, we are called to be

a voice of those in need and to rise

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up for those who can't help themselves.

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But we also know a second Peter three

13 tells us that we're looking forward

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to a new heaven and a new earth.

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Where righteousness will dwell

someday, Jesus Christ will come again.

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And he will make all things right.

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He will.

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Right Every wrong.

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In the meantime, we're told that

vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.

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He often calls us to patience

as he brings justice.

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Often we have to submit to

the systems in place to write

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the injustices of the world.

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And it often requires us to be

way more patient than we would

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like, but we can trust that this

is the God working on our behalf.

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As Jacob says in chapter 35.

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Verse three, then let us arise and

go up to Bethel so that I may make

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there an altar to the God who answers

me in the day of my distress and has

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been with me wherever I have gone.

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We do not worship a God that always

spares us from trouble, but he

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is always with us in the trouble.

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He's the God who dwells with us.

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Lord, we come before you seeing the

heaviness and the evil present in this

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passage, but also present in our world.

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And we long for you to set it

right to punish unrighteousness

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and to protect the innocent.

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And we ask that where we are, that we

would fight for the cause of others.

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But we also ask for patience

in our hearts, waiting for

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you to make all things right.

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Please work forgiveness in us.

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When we've been wronged or when our

children have been wronged, may we

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advocate for them, but also respond in

righteousness when they need a offender.

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We pray for their protection

from evil and for blessing upon

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their sibling relationships that

they would honor one another.

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Thank you, Jesus, that you're

coming back and that you will

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rule perfectly and justly.

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It's in your name that we pray.

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Amen.