Genesis chapter 25

This is about settling for what you want when you want it, rather than being prepared to wait on God.

Here, Esau was so hungry, he wanted his meal immediately and was not prepared to wait.  In exchange for instant access to food, immediate satisfaction of his cravings, his wants, he exchanged his birthright, the blessings that would be his as firstborn,  for a bowl of stew.  How often do we do that?  We want something, "need" it (or we think we do), and when we don't get it from God, we go out and try to get it ourselves.  It’s like I tell my children at Christmas: they may want something, but they don't necessarily need it.  Our youngest son may want the latest games console, or that new game that has just been released, but he really doesn't need it.

That's probably why there is the saying that patience is a virtue (and the full version, as my family know only too well from me, is "Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can.  Seldom found in woman, and never in a man!").  It takes patience to wait on God and in this fast paced world, we are used to living fast, getting immediate access to whatever we want, we are always busy, always looking for the next job, the next thing to do, and have very little time to stop and wait.  That's one of the reasons why I like to go out at the weekend with my children, because it gives me time to stop and listen, to look at the world God has created and to give him the thanks and the praise , to get some rest and some time away from the computer, and to spend much needed time with my boys and girl.  Yet life has been so hectic recently I just haven’t had time to stop and take a breath, let alone go out with my son (since he is the only one left  at home at the weekend).  Still, we have the joys of French homework to do together plus biology revision today!  I know how to spoil him!

But in the west, life is one big jumble at times, rushing here there and everywhere and very few of us have time to just sit and wait on God.  We want everything instantly, and when our prayers don't get answered, we try and sort everything out ourselves.  But just because we don't get an immediate answer to our prayers doesn't mean God hasn't heard us, or is ignoring us.  Sometimes, the answer is "yes", other times we are told to wait, or we might be told the answer is "no", or "yes but not just yet".  God knows what we want, and He also knows what we need, and the two are not necessarily the same.  But one thing we can be sure of is that God always answers our prayers.  And we need to make sure we don't exchange the future blessings of God for immediate gratification.

Esau lost out on so much, yet even before he was born God knew that was going to happen as he told Rebekah that the elder son, Esau, would serve the younger, Jacob.  In the same way, knows each one of us and exactly what will happen to us.  ?Yes, we have the choice of free will, we can choose to turn this way, that way, to do this, or that or the other, but God knows which way we will be going, what our decision will be, but He allows us to choose and does not force His will on us.  After all, Esau could have thought things over and decided that giving up his birth right for a bowl of stew was just too high a price to pay.  Similarly, we can think things through and decide to follow God or not.  Imagine how the persecuted Christians in other countries must feel.  After all, as far as they are concerned, following Jesus could mean rape, torture, death even yet they do not consider this to be too high a price to pay.  What are we prepared to give up for Jesus?  What price would we pay to ensure we spend eternity in heaven?