Discovering Destiny (Part 34): God Loves You Too Much To Leave You The Way He Found You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AizBebZbqZg

Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture(s) we will study today:

Malachi 1:2-3 NKJV“‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord. ‘Yet you say, “In what way have You loved us?” Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ says the Lord. ‘Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated.'”

Hebrews 12:6 AMPC“For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.”

Supporting scriptures:

Genesis 29:30-31 KJV“And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.”

Proverbs 13:24 NKJV“He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.”

Deuteronomy 2:5 NKJV“Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.”

Deuteronomy 23:7 NKJV“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land.”

Genesis 28:15 NLT“What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

Genesis 32:26 NKJV“And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!'”

Hosea 12:4 NKJV“Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, and there He spoke to us.”

Genesis 33:9 NLT“‘My brother, I have plenty,’ Esau answered. ‘Keep what you have for yourself.'”

Genesis 33:11 NKJV“Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.”

Proverbs 3:11-12 NLT“My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.”

Revelation 3:19 NKJV“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”

Hebrews 12:11 NKJV“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Titus 2:11-12 TPT“For here’s how God’s marvelous grace has appeared, bringing salvation to all people! Grace has trained us to turn our backs on ungodly living and sinful pleasures and to live each day with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God.”

Romans 2:4 NLT“Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”

Isaiah 53:5 NKJV“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

Philippians 1:6 NLT“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

Setting the Stage:

Yesterday, in our “Discovering Destiny” series, we watched Esau run to Jacob and embrace him. But that reunion leaves a question on the table. Esau came with 400 men, said, “I have plenty,” and ended up with a nation named after him (Edom), so if both brothers got rich, what did God mean when He said, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated”? Today I want to show you the difference between being blessed and being blessed and processed. And I want you to see that what you are going through is not punishment. It is processing, and it is preparing you for the destiny God already showed you.

Look at the two brothers side by side. Esau walked away from that reunion with 400 men, flocks of his own, and a future. Genesis 36 tells us his descendants became the chiefs and kings of Edom, and they had kings before Israel ever had one. God kept every word He ever spoke over Esau. Esau was blessed. Jacob walked away from that same reunion with a limp, a new name, and the same herds he had worked for 20 years. From the outside, Esau’s life looked easier. No ladder, no Laban, no all-night wrestling match, no hip out of the socket.

Then God says something in Malachi that has confused a lot of people: “Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated.” That word “hated” is the Hebrew word sane, and the Bible shows you how to read it right inside Jacob’s own house. Genesis 29:30 says Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. The very next verse says Leah was “hated,” the same word. Leah was not despised. She was the wife who was not chosen as the favorite, and God still opened her womb and gave her Judah, the tribe Jesus came from. Deuteronomy uses the same word for the “loved wife” and the “hated wife” living in the same household. Jesus used it the same way when He said a disciple must “hate” his father and mother. This does not mean that you hate your mother and father because you love Jesus. It’s just that you must choose Jesus over them.  It is covenant language. God chose Jacob for a covenant. He did not choose Esau. But He did not throw Esau away either. God gave Esau Mount Seir as a possession and told Israel, “Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother.”

Now here is the part that changes everything. Proverbs 13:24 uses the same two Hebrew words as Malachi, love and hate. The parent who withholds correction “hates” his son. The parent who loves him disciplines him. In the Hebrew mind, to love is to process, and to “hate” is to leave alone. So if both men got rich, how did God’s love show up? It did not show up in the size of the herds. Both brothers had herds. It showed up in the fact that God would not leave Jacob alone. God let Esau be Esau. God refused to let Jacob stay Jacob. That refusal was the love.

Let me be careful here, because I heard a preacher say that God “beat Jacob every day of his life,” and that you need a limp before God can use you. I do not believe that, and the Bible does not teach it. Not once did God beat Jacob. What God said to Jacob at Bethel was, “I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” That is not a threat. That is a promise. God did not punish Jacob into becoming Israel. God loved Jacob into becoming Israel. And to be very clear, God’s love manifested itself in difficult conversations and difficult experiences. 

Esau got blessed. But Jacob got blessed and processed. And the processing was the love. God’s love for Jacob was not a feeling God had about Jacob. It was a commitment to Jacob’s destiny, and love that is committed to your destiny will always involve a process.

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. Esau Got Blessed. Jacob Got Blessed And Processed.

Stop measuring God’s love by what is in your hand. Esau had plenty in his hand, and God was not working on him. Jacob had plenty too, but God was working on him. You can make the argument that the external blessing was the same. But God’s involvement was different. God gave Esau provision. God gave Jacob provision, a promise, and a process. And the process is what turned a conniver into a prince.

How this applies to you:

— God’s love is not measured by what He gives you. It is measured by what He refuses to leave alone in you.

— Proverbs 13:24 settles the meaning of “hate” for you. The parent who withholds correction “hates” his son, and the parent who loves him disciplines him. In Hebrew, love processes and hate leaves alone.

— Some of the most blessed (with material possessions) people you know are not being processed. They have things, but they don’t have an intimate relationship with God. As a result, they feel lost, and many even get to the point where they commit suicide. 

— God gave Esau Mount Seir and told Israel not to take one footstep of it. Then He said, God blessed Esau and protected Esau. He just did not process Esau.

— Esau got the herds. Jacob got herds too. But he also got the experience of the ladder, the experience of being tricked by his father-in-law, having his wages changed 10 times in 20 years, experiencing the spotted and speckled sheep, and then wrestling with an angel all night long, holding on until God blessed him. Jacob did not just get “stuff.” He got a God who kept showing up; a God who would not leave him alone until he became the man he was destined to be.

— God let Esau be Esau, and the scariest thing God can do is leave you alone.

— If you are blessed and processed at the same time, you are in covenant. That is not God being hard on you; that is God being serious about you.

— Jacob was coming home with more stuff, but the real question was whether he was coming home with more character.

— You are not just somebody God provides for. You are a son or a daughter whom God is developing. Provision is for everybody, but development and commitment are for the family.

2. God Corrects The Ones He Loves.

Hebrews 12:6 AMPC says, “For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves.” Proverbs 3:12 says He corrects those He loves, “just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.” Jesus Himself said in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” That is three witnesses saying the same thing. 

How this applies to you:

— Correction is not the opposite of love. Correction is the evidence of it.

— If God is correcting you, that is not rejection. That means you belong to Him.

— I correct my own children. I do not correct the neighbor’s children. Correction is a family matter.

— If God never checks you and never convicts you, do not call that freedom. That is actually a dangerous place to be.

— Every son God accepts, He corrects. If you are a son, expect it and welcome it.

— Hebrews 12:6 AMPC puts correction and cherishing in the same sentence because God does not correct those He does not cherish.

— Correction is God refusing to let the promise die inside of you. The “I will not leave you until” of Bethel covers the nights He would not leave you alone in your mess.

— The parent who corrected you was the parent who was paying attention, and your Father is paying attention. 

— We are all flawed people, and without Godly correction (whether that comes from God directly, from my parents, or from people who love us), we may never maximize our purpose and potential in this world. 

3. Grace Trains. Religion Punishes.

Here is where we have to be careful, because religion takes a true verse and turns it into a whip. Under the Old Covenant, correction could look like judgment. The correction that comes to a son under grace is never payback. It is training. Titus 2:11-12 TPT says, “Grace has trained us.” Hebrews 12:11 says the fruit comes to those who have been “trained by it.” God is not punishing you into shape. He is coaching you into destiny.

How this applies to you:

— Jesus took your punishment. What is left for you is training.

— It is not punishment. It is processing.

— The Hebrew of Proverbs 3:12 has no whip in it. It says, “The Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” The correction is born from the fact that this father delights in his son. If he did not, he would not even care what he did.

— Under grace, God corrects you with His Word, His Spirit, His people, and the doors He closes. That is not punishment. That is a Father who loves you. You may not like all the experiences, but they are necessary. 

— God does not have to hurt you to change you, because Romans 2:4 NLT says His kindness is what turns you from sin.

— Conviction is not condemnation. Condemnation says, “You are done.” Conviction says, “You are better than this, so come here.”

— Hebrews 12:11 NKJV says correction “yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” Training is painful in the moment, but the harvest is peace, not scars.

— A coach who never corrects you does not believe in your potential, but God corrects you because He has already seen the finished version of you.

4. He Started It, Jacob Sought It, And God Finished It.

God started it. At Bethel He said, “I will not leave you until I have finished.” But Jacob was part of the process, and here is what I want you to see: at least Jacob wanted it. He did not just sit there and get processed. He pursued God in the process. Did he do everything right? Absolutely not. But every time he had an encounter with God, he responded. At Bethel he made a vow. At Mahanaim he saw the angels and knew God was with him. At the Jabbok he prayed, “I am not worthy of the least of all Your mercies.” And when he wrestled with the Angel, he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” Jacob had a heart for God. God took a conniver and a trickster, and after 20 years of processing he was ready to be the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Esau had a nation of kings before Jacob had anything, but the heavier assignment was on Jacob, so the heavier processing was on Jacob. God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way.

How this applies to you:

— God did not save you to leave you alone. He saved you to finish what He started in your life.

— Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMPC says God plants in your heart “a divinely implanted sense of purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy.” Once God shows you your destiny, you will never be satisfied until you become that person, and you will never become that person without processing.

— You must have a heart for God, and you must refuse to let go.

— When the processing comes, some people give up, cave in, and quit. Galatians 6:9 says you will reap in due season if you do not give up.

— If you quit, you will get to heaven and find out there were things you were supposed to do that you never did, because you could not endure the processing required to carry the weight of the assignment.

— If the assignment is heavy, the preparation is heavy, because God is preparing the container.

— God is preparing you for what He prepared for you, and He is preparing other people to receive you.

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, thank You that You love me too much to leave me the way You found me!

I am not just blessed. I am blessed and processed!

Your correction is not my rejection. It is proof that I belong to You!

It is not punishment. It is processing, and You are preparing me for my destiny!

Jesus took my punishment, so what You give me now is training!

I declare what Jacob said: I will not let You go until You bless me!

You will not leave me, and I am not going to leave You!

I will be processed to the point where I can carry the weight of the anointing associated with my assignment!

In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!