Bible Verse Friday #31

"From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing.  And Esau began to scheme: "I will soon be mourning my father's death.  Then I will kill my brother Jacob". ~Genesis 27:41

Let me preface this by saying that, yes this is the third week that our verse has dealt with anger.

No, I'm not mad at anyone.

Why then have I been focused on this topic...well when the month started I wanted to have a focus.

And with all the March 'Mad'ness...I decided that anger would be it.

Now that this is cleared up let's focus on Genesis 27:41

My NLT Life Application Study Bible says the following:

27:41 Esau was so angry at Jacob that he failed to see his own wrong in giving away the birthright in the first place.  Jealous anger blinds us from seeing the benefits we have and makes us dwell on what we don't have.

27:41 When Esau lost the valuable family blessing, his future suddenly changed.  Reacting in anger, he decided to kill Jacob.  When you lose something of great value, or if others conspire against you and succeed, anger is the first and most natural reaction.  But you can control your feelings by (1) recognizing your reaction for what it is, (2) praying for strength, and (3) asking God for help to see the opportunities that even you bad situation may provide.

Let's take a moment to take that all in.

I think even I forget that there are different types of anger.

Last week I think the focus was mostly on irritation based anger, or things that bug us.

Here we are talking about jealous anger.

The green eyed monster.

Oh I am guilty of this from time to time.

In a society where keeping up with the 'Jones' is a status quo it's easy to forget how blessed you already are.

I think that as Bud & I proceed on our journey to become debt free we will struggle even more with this.

Do you have a jealous anger that you wish you didn't?

Maybe it's jealousy over someone else's finances?

Someone else's weight?

Someone else's relationship?

Or even career?

I'm sure there are a multitude of reasons to be jealous, but the goal is to take a step back and think of how much you have.  

How much God has already blessed you with.

I liked the second note about how anger tends to be the most natural reaction.

Does that bother anyone else as much as it bothers me?

Maybe because of how much truth is behind it?

My application study bible says it best though and I think that if we use this trick we can remember.
When you feel angry.....
RAP
R- recognize your reaction for what it is
A- Ask God for help
P- Pray for strength

Easy peasy 1....2....3(sy).....
Now practice makes perfect and not that I'm hoping you all have a reason to get mad, but if you do....just RAP it out.

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I hope you all have a Blessed Friday!