Lord's Day Devotion - He Holds No Grudges

Anger flared, simmering, then burning hot in his heart.  Cane and Abel had sacrificed of their respective livelihoods to God.  Abel's sacrifice was more acceptable to God than was Cain's.  Cain was affronted by that, producing seeds of jealousy, anger and bitterness within his heart.  We all know from reading Genesis 4, the murderous outcome of that grudge Cain held against Abel.

The LORD had put a "stop sign" along Cain's path when He spoke to him, 

"If you do well, will you not be accepted?  And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it" (Genesis 4:7 ESV).

Cain did have a chance to rectify his mind, heart and sacrifice.  However, he clung to his grudge, harboring evil intent, killing Abel in cold blood.  Not a very great "first family" or track record for the human race.  What a disappointment!  Yet God persevered with mankind and even put a form of life sentence, as well as protection, upon Cain.

Another set of siblings, twins, in fact, are introduced as Esau and Jacob.  Jacob was a rather conniving chap, aided by his mother Rebekah.  We would even indignantly affirm, Esau had every right to his feelings of injustice.  Twice, Jacob 'stole' from his brother; the birth-rite and the blessing.  (Genesis 27, 28, 33).

If you dig deeper and see Esau's heart, you'll discover, he didn't truly value the birth-rite.  It was too late now, though.  In the end,

"Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him.  He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near, then I will kill my brother Jacob" (Genesis 27:41 NIV).

Mother Rebekah heard Esau's intention and told Jacob to hightail it to her relatives far away.  Jacob escaped with his life yet fear of his brother's homicidal ire lived on for decades thereafter.

Grudges linger, fester and foment.  Read the entire book of Genesis and you'll unearth such ugly human failing and intrigue roiling down even through early civilization's history.  If you'll direct your attention to the account of Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 37) you'll see grudge has popped up again.  It was horrendous what they did to him due to not ruling over nor containing their jealousy, nor activating forgiveness towards Joseph.

Their father, who so happened to be Jacob, loved Joseph more than the whole slew of his older half siblings.  Jacob even made a beautiful multicolored coat for Joseph (who said sewing was only women's work).  On top of that Joseph detrimentally strutted his dreams in which those brothers would bow in obeisance to him.  That really got their goats and so the first chance they got to be rid of him, they did.

Imagine selling your own sibling down river!   The intentions of the heart were truly continually evil.  Grudges led to horrible mischief time and time again.

Joseph faced so much inequity thereafter:  slavery; false accusation and imprisonment.  Hard to believe those dreams of grandeur, yet Joseph must have kept them on the back burner of his mind (Genesis 39; 40).

Joseph was different from the rest and didn't allow the unfair chain reaction of events in his life to sour him.  He didn't hold a grudge.  Instead, he held a trump card.  He feared God.  He believed that what was meant for harm, God meant for good (Genesis 50:20).   In the end, Joseph's wisdom saved the entire world from starvation:  Egyptians, and surrounding people's including his very own father, siblings and their whole clan (Genesis 40, 43, 45).

All down throughout the ages, mankind has behaved in horrendously abominable ways that are intolerable to God.  Nevertheless, He loves us all still.  He wanted to prove His love and that He would not hold a grudge against us feeble, willful human beings.  

The Almighty Creator, reached down in forgiving compassion, sending His Son Jesus to make atonement for our souls.  Joseph rescued his generation from death.  Jesus rescued, not only His own generation, but all mankind since, from the clutches of death and Hell which licked at our heels in hot pursuit as punishment for our sin.

Jesus forgives.  Jesus saves.  He holds no grudges against us.

Followers of Jesus Christ, thank and praise Him for all He has done for mankind in general, and for each individual in particular.  As we partake of the bread and wine on Lord's Day, think on these things.

What a mighty, grudgeless God we serve!

                                                   ~ERC  19 October 2019~

This song may not be for everyone as it's a deviation from solemn hymns, but he has a point about Grudges with Brinson, a Christian rap artist.


A little "tamer"  from Anthony Evans, No Condemnation