“Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure, until I meet my lord in Seir” (Genesis 33:14 NKJ).
Here is a verse which shows us how to deal with super-aggressive people. Every religious group has at least one person in it who is pushy, opinionated, strong-willed, vocal, and determined to “get this show on the road.”
How do you defuse such “hyper” people who “come on like gangbusters” to get things moving?
We can take a lesson from Jacob here. When he finally meets up with his long-lost brother and they turn toward home, he tells Esau to go on ahead and he will follow at a slower pace and meet him there later.
Jacob and Esau may have been over that road many times before. It’s likely that the two of them could have pressed on and reached their destination in record time. But Jacob held back from hurrying.
In verse thirteen we see that he is concerned lest the flock and the children be overdriven. In verse fourteen he expresses this concern by his suggestion that his brother go on ahead and allow him to follow along at a pace more suited to the animals and the young.
This is the way to handle aggressors. Tell them: “You go on ahead by yourself and set a pace that suits you. I am responsible for the young, tender, inexperienced travelers who move a lot slower than you. I will bring them along as quickly as they are able. We’ll catch up with you later. It may take us a while longer to reach our destination, but we’ll all make it. You go on; we’ll meet you there.”
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers