My Reflection on God's Treatment of Jacob and Esau

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I still can't over the words in Malachi 1:2-3 which says:
I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

I did't give too much consideration until I started rereading Genesis. I thought of the number of times that God actually beat Jacob. There's no instance that God disciplined Esau. Instead, we see that God was disciplining Jacob. You can see that Jacob wasn't going to get away with sin and Esau was prospering much even without Isaac's blessing. When Jacob and Esau met the latter had so much riches that he didn't need the former's peace offering.

But why was Jacob so broken and limping? It's because God loves Jacob. Hebrews 12:5-7 says that God disciplines those He loves. He doesn't leave them alone to enjoy their sin. Instead, He does everything to make them fruitful. John 15:1-8 says that God trims the branches to make them bear fruit. God knows that true faith can be tested and trusted. He knows that true faith differs from inauthentic faith. There's a huge difference between the two types of faith. One faith fails and the other faith endures. God was treating Jacob like the way He would treat any Christian who backslides. Jacob was really backslid. He cheated his father. He cheated his uncle and father-in-law Laban. He wasn't living right. God was too loving to let Jacob live in sin so He did everything to get him back on track. 

I thought about how God has often used bad times to get my attention because He cares about me. When you truly care about someone you don't want them walking into error. Instead, you decide to meddle in their sinful living not to spite them but to bring them back on track. A true friend doesn't leave the other to be in error. Instead, it's all about a loving rebuke to bring people back on track. Jesus as my Friend and Lord wants the best for me so He rebukes me and submits me to the loving chastisement of the Father. If I have no discipline or hard times whenever I do wrong then I can really say I'm not once saved always saved.

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