This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions, week 8 of our look together
through the book of Genesis, so that means chapter 36 today. Chapter 36 of
Genesis, well, at the end of the story of Jacob, before we go fully into the
story of Joseph, chapter 36 is, it's Esau's chapter, Jacob's brother's chapter.
Chapter 36 verse 1 says, "This is the account of Esau," and then it says, "That
is Edom.

" Now, Edom is the name of the nation that came out of Esau. Although Esau
didn't carry the promise forward, he didn't become Israel, he did become Edom.
He did become an entire nation.

Now, how did he become a nation? Well, a little bit different direction than
Jacob became a nation. Let me read for you what happened in verses 2 and then
down through verse 8.

"Esau took wives from the women of Canaan. " Adah, daughter of Elan the Hittite,
and Oldabama, daughter of Anah, and granddaughter of Zebeon the Hivite, also
Besamath, daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebioth. These women that were of
that land, the Canaanites, that's who Esau married.

Then down in verse 6, "Jacob took his wives and sons and daughters and all the
members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and
all the goods that he had acquired in Canaan, and he moved to a land some
distance from his brother Jacob. Their possessions were too great for them to
remain together. The land where they were staying could not support them both
because of their livestock.

So Esau, that is Edom, settled in the hill country of Sierre. He's going to
become a nation in this place. " And then you go on and read through chapter 36,
verse 10 begins to list the sons that descended from Esau.

Then in verse 29, it goes up a notch and it begins to list the chiefs that
descended from Esau. So now it's not just sons, but it's chiefs. You couldn't
list all of them, so at least the chiefs of the tribe were listed.

And then in verse 31, it begins to list the kings that descended from Esau.
There's no longer time to list all of the children of the descendants, but the
list of the kings of the nation are listed. Then the chapter sums up with verse
43, "This was Esau, the father of the Edomites.

" Esau became a nation, but this nation became an enemy of Israel. Even as these
two brothers fought with each other, these two nations are going to fight with
each other. And one of the reasons that the nation that grew out of Esau became
a nation that was an enemy of Israel was because of the beginnings.

Edom was a nation that was founded on bitterness and anger. You might remember
as we were reading back to the story of Jacob and Esau, that when Jacob became
favored by his parents and they sent him off to find a bride, a wife in a
foreign land, that Esau, out of his anger toward his parents, just to spite his
parents, began to marry some of the women of the land. Something that comes out
of spite, something that comes out of anger, when the foundation is wrong, many
times the result is wrong, unless there's some huge change that happens.

And the foundation was wrong. Now as I read this chapter, the question I have in
this chapter for my life, for your life is, what is your life founded on? What
is your family founded on?

What is your ministry founded on? Maybe even what is your nation founded on? And
how can Jesus Christ give you the wisdom and strength to swim upstream against
the natural reaction to that maybe wrong foundation, that wrong history?

If your family has been founded on bitterness and anger and gossip, maybe even
for generations, you can be the one that changes everything. If in your own life
you have started in a wrong direction, your life is founded on trying to prove
your parents wrong. Your life is founded on trying to prove to the world who you
are.

Or you've even started a ministry. People can start ministries for God with the
wrong, wrong, wrong attitude, the wrong motivation. And maybe even your ministry
is founded on jealousy.

Someone else had a big ministry, so you wanted to have a big ministry too.
Someone else was being praised for what they did, so you wanted to be praised
too. Maybe the foundation is wrong.

And when the foundation is wrong, obviously the building is going to be crooked.
What do you do when the foundation is wrong? As a believer in Jesus Christ, you
have at your disposal the most incredible thing in the world, the grace of God.

So you lean on the grace of God. The grace of God has the power to redo a
foundation. The grace of God has the power to change everything.

And you can be the one. You can be the one, obviously, in your own life that
changes the foundation. As you look at your life, you see anger, you see
bitterness, you see many of your decisions were made in order to spite someone
else.

You can change that. The way you change that is by asking for forgiveness from
God, making restitution to others, others that you've hurt, you've done
something to spite someone else. You go to them and you say, "I'm sorry.

I was so immature. I was so wrong. I was so angry.

I was so selfish. I'm sorry. " They may respond well, they may respond not so
well.

That's their choice. But your choice to make that restitution can change
everything in your life. You ask for forgiveness from God, you make restitution
towards others, and then you begin to build towards the future.

You can't redo the past, but you can build towards the future. You can't go back
and remake the past, but you can build towards the future. And God is a God of
grace.

It's amazing how He takes even a ministry that starts with the wrong foundation.
I start it with jealousy, but I come to a place in my life and I recognize I'm
doing this just because I'm jealous. No wonder things are going wrong.

And I go back and I ask for forgiveness from God. I make restitution. God can
even take that very ministry that started in the wrong direction and redeem it
and do something new in it.

You don't have to kill it. You don't have to let it go. Many times He will
redeem it.

That's what God loves doing. He loves redeeming lives. He loves redeeming
ministries.

He even loves redeeming nations. I have no doubt that God wants to work in your
life to redeem a foundation maybe where you started wrong, or a ministry maybe
where you started wrong. It may very well even be that God wants to work in and
through your life to redeem something greater.

A nation that's headed the wrong direction. A whole family system that's headed
the wrong direction. God may want to use you as the one who breaks the chain of
heading the wrong direction.

God may want to use you as the one who starts a new foundation. Let's take a
minute to talk to Jesus. Jesus Christ, thank you.

Thank you that you change everything. Because you're the cornerstone. You're the
new foundation.

And you're the foundation we can stand on. Our foundations so often, they grow
out of our own selfishness. They grow out of our own desire to please ourselves
by making ourselves look better than somebody else.

Forgive us, God. Because we know you love us. And we pray that we build our
lives instead on the foundation of your love.

Lord, if something's wrong in my life, in my family, in my nation, instead of
pointing fingers at others, Lord, help me to start with me. And to see where you
want to rebuild, redo, give grace to the foundation in my life. And Jesus, I
start right now by recognizing you as the foundation, the cornerstone, the one I
trust.

Thank you for your forgiveness. Show me where I need to make restitution until
someone else I was wrong. And God help me then to begin to build towards the
future.

I ask this, Jesus, in your name, amen. Make sure to join us tomorrow. We're
going to meet a dreamer by the name of Joseph.