Week 34, Day 3: Unintended Consequences…

Today’s Reading:  Genesis 33:1-20

Some thoughts from the reading…

Yesterday, we saw that Jacob was afraid to go back to Canaan because he was afraid of his brother, Esau.  Even after 20 years, he was afraid that Esau would still want to kill him.  Fortunately for Jacob, Esau had been able to come to come to a point of forgiveness.  It is hard to believe, after all that Jacob did to Esau, that he was able to forgive Jacob’s actions, and relent from attacking him and his family.

This seems to be such a heartwarming story, of two brothers reunited.  However, the story does not end there.  As we continue to read through the Old Testament, we find that there was a constant rift between the people of Esau and the people of Jacob.  We will see that there will be a hatred between the Edomites and the Israelites that will even end up being the source of prophecies sent by God (such as the book of Obadiah, and parts of the book of Ezekiel).

This was certainly an “unintended consequence” to Jacob’s actions.  He probably never thought that his actions could lead to a hatred between two established nations!  This was a fulfillment of prophecies that had been made to Rebekah while she was still expecting these twins.  It is certainly interesting to note just how things prophesied by God comes to pass.

Often, there are unintended consequences (as we saw yesterday as well) to our actions.  We don’t look far enough ahead to see how our actions will cause problems for others in the future, even beyond the problems that they cause for us.  We need to remember this example, so that we will not make the kind of poor choices that cause these types of problems for ourselves, and generations that follow us!

Question: Why do you think most people don’t think far enough ahead to avoid these kinds of unintended consequences?

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