I was reading recently the story of Esau and Jacob, about how Esau sold his birthright. You wonder; how can he easily give up his birthright like that over a bowl of soup? What was he thinking?
If you’re not familiar with the story let me give you a Reader’s Digest version. Esau and Jacob are twin sons of a special man named Isaac. Isaac is the promised baby that Abraham and Sarah had from God. They waited for Isaac for years because Sarah was barren. It wasn’t until she was 90 years old and Abraham was 100 years old, that God fulfilled His promise to them and Isaac was born. This is very significant because God had promised Abraham to give him land, a promised land, and bless him with children that he couldn’t number they were going to be so many. It was going to be a whole nation. Kings and princes were going to come through this nation. And even though Abraham also had a child with Sarah’s handmaid and children by other women after Sarah was gone, it was through Sarah that the promise was to be fulfilled. Through Isaac the blessing came when God had tested Abraham to offer his son Isaac for a sacrifice, and Abraham obeyed the Lord (though an angel of God came in a nick of time and stopped Abraham from killing Isaac and provided a ram instead for an offering). That obedience caused God to make that promise of blessing to Abraham and to his descendants. This promise of blessing was handed down to Isaac, not just to any of Abraham’s children or even to Ishmael who was Abraham’s oldest son. It was to Isaac because the woman God had chosen to bless was Sarah, and Isaac was the promised child Sarah and Abraham had been waiting for even before Ishamel came into the scene. God told Abraham,
By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. {Genesis 22:16-18}
Needless to say this blessing is beyond a big deal. It’s no wonder then that Isaac’s son Jacob wanted that blessing so much. He probably sought every opportunity to get his twin brother Esau (who happened to just be few seconds older than him), to give up that right and that blessing. One day Jacob was given the opportunity. Esau came home from hunting with nothing caught and he was famished. He saw Jacob finishing up a wonderful looking pot of soup, (probably was smelling really good too!) and he begged Jacob for a bowl. Jacob told him there was a condition: he had to give up his birthright for it. Esau basically told him, “Well I’m practically dying here, what good is my birthright going to do me now? So, yeah sure why not, you can have it.” But see you can’t give up that right and expect to keep the blessing. Not when that right was a spiritual blessing that was given by God. The scripture states that by our mouth we will decree our destiny. We are more powerful than any of us can even begin to imagine. Simply by the opening of our mouth and what comes out of it we can end up blessing ourselves or we can end up cursing ourselves. The Bible tells us,
“For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” {Matthew 12:37}
Proverbs puts in another way:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. {Proverbs 18:21}
Then I started thinking about it, how many of us do this all the time? How many times do we give up something great for something that’s convenient at the moment? We even think sometimes, this is killing me, I can’t stand it anymore, what’s the point of pushing for my dream or for what God has promised for me? I can’t wait anymore. For example, we dream of God giving us a wonderful spouse who will be our soul mate, but instead we end up settling with someone we are not one hundred percent sure about. As a matter of fact, if we were honest with ourselves we know they’re not the right one for us. I almost did this back in college. I was going out with a guy that I had a feeling was not the right one for me, but we really liked each other and were talking about marriage. But when I sought the Lord about him, sure enough the Lord told me he’s not the right one for me. He told me, “Wait for the right one.” My response was, “Can You make this guy the right one then? I don’t want to wait anymore.” But the Lord was really good to me and I ended up wanting to wait. As the days went by it dawned on me more and more that even though there are things I liked about him, he was really the wrong one for me. And thank You, Jesus, not long after that, the Lord sent the right one for me. When I checked with the Lord, I wasn’t even finished asking Him, “Is he the one from You?” And I got a resounding, “Yes.” I even knew in my heart that he was the one prior to asking the Lord because I’ve never felt like that with anyone in my life before. This man was so good to me. He fit everything that I had desired and dreamed of in my heart, and so much more. So for the Lord to say “Yes”, well then that was good enough for me. To make a long story short, three and half months of dating, yes, months not years, we were married. Today everyday I thank the Lord for seeking Him for such an important decision in my life, and for waiting on Him to fulfill His promise to me that the right one was going to come along. After being happily married for twenty-five years, I can confidently say the Lord made the right choice for me. I am glad I listened to Him and waited.
But then it’s not always like that for me. I wish it was. There are times I chose to settle instead of pushing through for what I really wanted and what was best for me. I remember a time in college, in the last week of my last semester. In a couple of weeks I would be graduating from college, and so far I had 4.0 GPA. My dream was to graduate with a 4.0 GPA. Final exams were happening and it was probably the second to the last exam I had to take for the rest of my life, and I overslept. I chose to sleep in instead of getting up to be on time for the exam. What’s more painful is that I remember the Holy Spirit speaking to me in my spirit to get up and get there on time. And I rationalized it and said I need an hour more so that I can think better for the exam. I stayed up really late the night before studying and I really felt I needed the sleep. This decision ended up hurting my grade. I tried to make up for it with a report for that teacher but he was stickler for promptness and he wouldn’t let my tardiness go. In the end instead of an A in his class I ended up with an A minus. Thus when I graduated I ended up with 3.8 GPA. How awful was that? Only .2 points and I missed it. Just the decision not to get up and make it on time caused me this regret for the rest of my life. Up to this day I wince at the thought that I didn’t listen to the Lord to get up. Just one hour of lost sleep, so what?
I think about some other decisions I made in my life that still makes me wince with regret today because I chose to settle for the momentary pleasure I could experience, rather than endure the discomfort of denying myself and waiting on the Lord and obeying Him. Fortunately for me they’re not so bad as losing a lifetime of blessings like Esau did. Think about it, a lifetime of God’s promise and blessings, and he gave it up for a bowl of soup. No wonder he wept and cried when he found out that his father ended up giving his blessings to Jacob. By then it was too late. Today, Jacob’s descendants are the well-known nation of Israel. The whole world indeed has been blessed through them because it was through them that Jesus Christ, the Son of God came to reveal Himself to us. Through the precious blood of Jesus Christ that He shed at Calvary (and gave us the salvation of God that cannot be purchased through rams or lambs or he goats), anyone today can have the salvation of God. Anyone today can talk to Him like Abraham did back in his days when he offered up Isaac. Or like Moses did when he saw God through the burning bush. We can talk to God and have a relationship with Him and end up knowing Him and belonging to Him. What a blessing indeed! This is beyond what anyone can ever measure!
Are you going through a test right now where you feel tempted to do what is easier, rather than wait on the Lord and what He has promised to give to you if you obey? Remember Esau’s test. He failed it. Seriously, would he have died without that soup? I don’t think so. The Bible tells us that his father Isaac was rich and had many flocks. He was the heir. He could eat anytime he wanted to. He could have gotten himself a goat or a lamb and made dinner for himself. A couple of hours more wouldn’t kill him. But sometimes that’s how we feel. We don’t like pain. We don’t like to wait. We want it now. We always prefer what is easy and what we feel is good at the moment, over what God would have for us instead. Don’t do it. Don’t settle and give into momentary pleasure for what is easier. Ask the Lord for strength to endure. Wait on the Lord and trust in His love for you. He will not ever leave you nor forsake you. He is faithful until the end. He will come through for you. Just wait for Him.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. {Psalm 130:5}
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. {Psalm 27:14}
Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD. {Psalm 31:24}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You Father for Your great love for me. I thank You that You promised to never ever leave me nor forsake me. I thank You, because through You I can have hope for a better future and better tomorrow. Through You I can have eternal life. I worship and praise You, Lord Jesus. Thank You, Father.
Lord Jesus, please Savior help me wait on You. Please help me and give me faith on the promises You have for me, to make it well for me. I don’t want to miss out on Your dream for me. Help me to do what You desire for me to do in this life, and listen to Your promptings and nudging in my spirit to wait. I want what You have for me Lord Jesus. I don’t want to settle for less. Please help me to wait on You and have faith in Your love for me. I pray this Father, in Your most wonderful name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
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