ESAU
Common sense isn’t all that common, in fact, the common thread in many decisions is that they don’t make sense. Esau’s life was filled with choices he must have regretted bitterly. He appears to have been a person who found it hard to consider consequences, reacting to the need of the moment without realizing what he was giving up to meet that need. Trading his birthright for a bowl of pottage (stew) was the clearest example of this weakness. He also chose wives in direct opposition to his parents’ wishes. He learned the hard way.
What are you willing to trade for the things you want? Do you find yourself, at times, willing to negotiate anything for what you feel you need now? Does your family, spouse, integrity, body, or soul get included in these deals? Do you sometimes feel that the important parts of life escaped while you were grabbing for something else?
If so, your initial response, like Esau’s may be deep anger, in itself that isn’t wrong, as long as you direct the energy of that anger toward a solution and not toward yourself or others as the cause of the problem. Your greatest need is to find a focal point other than ‘’what I need now’’. The only worthy focal points is God. A relationship with him will not only give an ultimate purpose to your life, it will be a daily guideline for living .meet him in the pages of the Bible.
Strengths and Accomplishment:
- Ancestor of the Edomites
- Known for his archery skill
- Able to forgive after explosive anger
Weaknesses and Mistakes:
- When faced with important decisions, tended to choose according to the immediate need rather than the long-range effect
- Angered his parents by poor marriage choices
Lessons from his life:
- God allows certain events in our lives to accomplish his overall purposes, but we are still responsible for our actions
- Consequences are important to consider
- It is possible to have great anger and yet not sin
Key verses: ‘’Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fails of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears’’ (Hebrews12:14-17).