Audio  The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote of the porcupine’s dilemma. He said that when it is cold, a group of porcupines might huddle together for warmth. But, the closer they get to one another, they begin to prick one another with their quills, forcing them to separate from one another. Schopenhauer compared this to an experience in human relationships. He said, “the need of society drives the human porcupines together, only to be mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of their nature.”[1] Perhaps you have experienced this phenomenon. We desire to have intimate friendships and deeply meaningful personal relationships with others, but we often get hurt and we hurt others. We simultaneously push others away and are pushed away by them with our mutual prickliness. Christians are not immune to this. In fact, it may be suggested that we are especially prone to it because we have both an existential need and a biblical obligation to draw near to one another in Christian fellowship. And, on the plane of Christian fellowship, our emotions are raw and vulnerable, and we are all still “works in progress” at varying points on the journey of sanctification. Even in the church, we find ourselves mutually sticking each other with the pricks of our imperfections. So, whether in the church or in the world, if we are to ever have meaningful human relationships – if we are really going to obey the command of God to love our neighbors as ourselves – we must become experts at reconciliation. And thankfully the Word of God is not silent on this subject. In our last study, we observed the tension between Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob. They were born in a struggle, and grew up at odds with each other. Parental favoritism, spiritual blindness, dishonesty and deception ripped away at the fabric of family life. We left off with Esau vowing to kill Jacob, and Jacob fleeing the Promised Land to save his own life. As Jacob departed, God met with him, and assured him of His divine presence and protection, and promised that He would bring Jacob back to the Promised Land. In the intervening chapters, Jacob met and fell in love with Rachel, but was deceived by her father Laban – a taste of his own medicine. As a result of that deception, Jacob was duped into marrying the wrong girl – Rachel’s elder sister Leah. He ended up taking both of them as wives, and fathered 11 sons and a daughter. He became prosperous, and the Lord prompted him to return to the Promised Land. He and his family and entourage snuck away in the dark of night, and Laban chased after them all. When Laban finally caught Jacob, the two made an uneasy agreement before the Lord. They said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other.” This was not so much a prayer of mutual blessing, but a warning, as though to say, “You better not cross me again, because God is watching you!” They set up boundaries that neither was to cross again in order to harm the other (Gen 31:44-55). Jacob had put his conflicts with Laban behind him and was prepared to go back to the Promised Land as the Lord had prompted him. As he entered into the boundaries of the Land, the angels of God met him, as a reminder that God had kept all of the promises He had made to Jacob. And this is where our text begins. You notice that immediately after Jacob was encountered by these angels his thoughts turned to Esau, his brother. The last time his feet had touched this soil, he was fleeing for his life from Esau’s murderous threats. Twenty years later, Jacob now finds himself between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Because of his agreement with Laban, he cannot turn back. If he is to obey the Lord, he must go forward. But going forward means crossing paths with the brother he deceived, who was intent on killing him. So Jacob has to discover the path of reconciliation with Esau if he is going to survive and fulfill God’s purposes for him and for the