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Fervent
and sincere prayer. This is the method through which God
provides us a way to develop and maintain a strong
relationship with Him. A prayer from a clear conscience
and truthful lips is acceptable to God. A very intimate
relationship with God must be highest on our list of
priorities. This is because our days on the face of the
earth are momentary; life beyond death, on the other
hand, is eternal. A man is often introduced to an
audience by virtue of the position he holds. One of his
closest friends who is seated among the same audience is
least bothered about the lofty descriptions of his
friend because he knows him personally. How do we
introduce ourselves to God? Is it on the strength of our
works or of our intimacy with him? In other words, given
a chance to enter in heaven, I will not be introduced
there by the works I did for God; rather my relationship
with God will prove to be crucial for me to get a warm
hug from Him.
Prayer is the means to draw near to God daily. How
careful we have to be to lead a powerful and truthful
prayer life according to His will! In the above verse we
learn that our refusal to forgive can become a wall
between us and God. He wants us to pull it down by
persistently forgiving others. It is strange that an
unforgiving spirit and hatred often creeps in between
those who must love and bear each other - God and His
world, in families between husband and wife, siblings,
church members and neighbours. An unforgiving spirit,
characteristically, is not static; it gains momentum and
grows to hatred and murder.
It is interesting to learn how hatred germinates in a
family. The first family that was chosen by God to
become a nation for God is an apt example. Isaac and
Rebecca had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Both came from the
womb of Rebecca. Isaac was their father. It is
unfortunate to see that the father loved the older and
the mother loved the younger at the expense of the other
son. “Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau,
but Rebecca loved Jacob’’ (Gen. 25:28). It seems Isaac
was more selective about his food than about the
affection and understanding between his sons. Rebecca
seemed to be helping God in order to fulfil His promise
on Jacob. She received the promise when they were still
in her womb - the “older will serve the younger”.
Consequently, there arose a hostility that grew to the
extent of becoming a murderous intent in the older
brother. “Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of
the blessing his father had given [Jacob]. He said to
himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near;
then I will kill my brother Jacob." Gen. 27:41. The
parents lost both their sons the same day – one fled to
another country and the other was dragged in to
bitterness.
Are we destined to live in bitterness? No. We can
receive a healing power from God to change the other
person who is not within our reach. We want to see
people who talk and work against us turn and talk for us
and live in peace with us. It is certain that we cannot
do it without the power of God. Jesus Christ came to
this world with a wonderful message of forgiveness and
became an unequivocal example of forgiveness. Through
the power He pours out from His cross every situation
and person can be changed.
When Jacob was coming back to his inheritance from
Laban’s house along with his family and property, before
crossing the river he sent his messengers to Esau with a
word of his arrival. In return, he received the message
that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred
people. He was horrified by this news and fell into
distress and fear. He imagined the massacre that would
take place in a few hours. He was helpless. Jacob
completely fell into the hands of God that night and
prayed, like wrestling with a man. “So Jacob was left
alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak” Gen.
32:24. He wanted God to intervene in this situation and
turn it around. His prayer, the time he spent in the
presence of God, didn’t go in vain. The next day Esau
arrived with four hundred men, not to kill, but to
embrace and welcome his younger brother. “But Esau ran
to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around
his neck and kissed him. And they wept” Gen. 33:4. God
can change anything and everything.
On the other hand, God gives us power to forgive others
who do not change. In the case of Joseph, when his
brothers came to buy grain in Egypt, while he was the
prime minister of Egypt, he put them in prison for three
days. That was a spontaneous action that came out of the
bitterness he had towards them. When he saw them
together underneath his power and authority, he sent
them to prison. He remembered for a moment the wonderful
adolescence he could have had under the affectionate
love of his father and all the facilities at his home.
He had lost everything due to his envious brothers’
heinousness. The trials and temptations he went through
filled him with a spirit of revenge against his
brothers. Therefore, he put them in prison for three
days. But Joseph was a man after God’s heart. He
wrestled with God during these days in prayer. When he
came out of it he was determined to release them. “On
the third day, Joseph said to them, "Do this and you
will live, for I fear God: (Gen. 42:18). Usually we keep
a grudge against someone and claim that we have done no
wrong. We say that the other person is fighting with us
without any reason. My question is, is God giving us a
right to keep a grudge against someone or is He asking
us to ‘love your enemies’?
The Son of God, Jesus Christ, knew that Judas Iscariot
was going to betray Him to death. Nevertheless He kept
him in His team and loved him without any discrimination
for more than three years. Will we keep such a person in
our inner circle for three days? Jesus Christ is the
manifestation of perfect forgiveness. While He was being
nailed to the cross He prayed, “Father, forgive them for
they don’t know what they are doing”. We have to follow
Jesus completely in His footsteps for there is no other
way to live like a child of God. Jesus said : “For if
you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you” Matthew 6:14.
Let us always be forgiving and receiving forgiveness. |
