Your Biggest Comeback

This morning, as I was scrolling through the Pinterest app, I saw a very inspiring quote. The quote said, “ The comeback is always stronger than the setback.” This reminds me of a devotional I did a couple of years back when I had to present it on a prayer line and I would love to share it with you today. The title of this devotional is simply called, “Your Biggest Comeback”.

I came across this word when I was reading and studying the book of Genesis, which by the way, is an awesome book in the Bible. So when I was reading the book of Genesis, I came across these two twin boys named Esau and Jacob. They were the sons of Rebecca and Issac. If you want to go a little bit deeper, Issac was the son of Abraham, the father of many nations. If I were to present this to you in church, I would say, “May you please get your Bibles out and turn to Genesis 33:1-4,” but you can’t, because you’re reading this online. Genesis 33:1-4NLT says,” Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and his two servant wives. He put the servant wives and their children at the front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. Then Jacob went on ahead. As he approached his brother, he bowed to the ground seven times before him. Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.” If you would like to read or even study the full story, here’s a link for you: https://bible.com/bible/116/gen.27.1.NLT

When I was making this devotional for the prayerline, I had asked my Instagram and Facebook followers a few questions. I would like to ask you the same questions too. What is your response to someone who you once were close with? Someone who you once trusted? Someone who stabbed you in the back and hurt you? What is your biggest comeback towards that person? So, I used Ms. Jessica's response and she said that her biggest comeback to someone that once hurt her was, “Happiness and love. Not showing anger or strong negative emotion.” I strongly believe that our biggest comeback towards those who hurt us is forgiveness. Now, you're probably saying, “ Kennedey how am I supposed to forgive or even love this person after they did what they did to me?” or maybe you agree with me. Let me know what you think, but Luke 6:37 NLT says, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.”

If you ever heard me preach, you know I love giving definitions. Why? Because how are you going to learn something, if you don’t know what it means? Oxford Languages says forgiveness means, “ the action or process of forgiving or being forgiven.” But, if you want to go a little bit deeper in research, Dr. Timothy R. Valentino says that the Hebrew meaning of forgiveness means, “the takeaway, forgiveness or pardon of sin, iniquity, and transgression.” As a result, this story teaches us forgiveness! We see this in the Bible when Esau forgives Jacob for stealing his birthright.

Sometimes you have to forgive people even though it may hurt because they’ve taken something from you. For example, your trust or your love, and that’s why it’s hard for you to love people. Maybe they took your self-esteem or your body. Ask God to help you to forgive them. Now, I’m not saying you have to talk to them, but I am saying to forgive them. Why? Because you will never get to where you want to be in life. Not forgiving, will cause you to hurt yourself more, and the people that truly love you. It will weigh you down and you will never be relieved of the hurt. It will make you not trust those who you need to be trusting. So, I encouraged you to forgive those who have done wrong.

Lastly, this story teaches us that revenge is unnecessary. Esau wanted to kill Jacob, but their mother told Jacob to escape. The best revenge is when you let God handle the situation. Because when we handle it ourselves, it may put us in a situation where we don’t want to be, like in jail.

I kept asking myself, “ Why is God being so good to Jacob when he stabbed his brother in the back? And deceived his father?” Just like you keep wondering why God keeps blessing those who’ve hurt you or abused your trust. But the Lord said, “ It was my grace and mercy.” It’s like when we’re disobedient, but God still blesses us. Why? Because he has forgiven us. If God can forgive you then you can forgive people that hurt it. For Colossians 3:13 NLT says, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”

Thank you so much for viewing this ! I know it’s kind of long, but I hope it was worth the read. Feel free to leave a comment, like, share, and subscribe to the website. I hope you’ll come back next week! Have a wonderful and blessed week.