Catching Up

In Joshua 24:3, we read that God gave a homeland to Esau (the land of Seir) long before He gave one to Jacob, Esau's brother, and his descendants. Esau had a 400 year head start on building cities and fortifying towers. He had a great advantage in establishing an army and a permanent culture.

Jacob's descendants, on the other hand, were slaves in Egypt for four centuries and spent an additional 40 years in the desert before going in and settling the Promised Land. Eventually, however, Jacob's relatives outgrew their cousins and their society eclipsed their older more established cousins.

There is a parallel here between these ancient cultures and ourselves in the modern era. Sometimes we as Christians seem so far behind our earthly, unbelieving brothers in so many ways. For example, they command technology, they control money and influence, their ideas bury our ideas to the point where we wonder if God is really working for us. But rest assured that we will surpass them one day. In the twinkling of an eye we will be transformed into glorious beings transcending any power or ability displayed by our unbelieving friends here on earth.

Let us not be discouraged therefore at the disparate levels of accomplishments or resources enjoyed by those of the world and ourselves. One day we will catch up and surpass all of these in a heartbeat and wonder why we ever worried in the first place.