"Selling Salvation For Soup" Series

Faith, by definition, demands patience. And lack of patience with God is lack of faith, is disobedience; is unbelief.

“’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways’, declares the Lord.” (Isa 55:8)

And we all prove that statement true on a daily basis. Because His thoughts and ways are high and holy, and our thoughts and ways are base and evil. The separation is infinite.

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Heb 11:6)

Not scheme, not plot, not work, not strive in futility, but seek Him.

So in walks the hunter. The only real difference between him and Jacob is that he is not as clever as his homemaker brother. He smells the stew, his stomach growls, and so he growls back.

The present is all that matters. His mind has already forgotten the hunt, and there is no place in his head for how he’ll spend his evening; much less his distant future.

He doesn’t even know what he’s asking for! “Please give me a swallow of that red stuff…”

Reminds me of my German Shepherd.

It didn’t matter if he’d just finished eating his dog food. I could walk out back with half a hot dog in my hand, or a chunk of pork or a bit of cheese or a chicken neck, toss it in the air, and it was in his mouth and down his gullet in a heartbeat. I’m not sure he even tasted it. Didn’t matter to him; he existed to consume.

Then comes Jacob’s request; one that should have sounded absurd to Esau. Trade my birthright for one meal? In half an hour I’ll be hungry again. What is a bowl of soup compared to my inheritance? What is anything, for that matter, that passes away, compared to the promise from God’s own mouth?

The natural heart of man cannot comprehend the things of God. It places no value whatsoever on God or His promises, or His warnings. It can only think of and desire what is before it right now.

“Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”

Do you think he was really about to die? Of course not! He was hungry.

One of my dad’s favorite jokes, and one that he still thought funny long after everyone around him was sick of hearing it, was to respond to someone who complained of being hungry with, “Hello Hungry, I’m Robert”

Finally one day as my dad’s congregation gathered for a pot luck, one of the men mentioned being hungry, and when my dad popped out the obligatory “Hi Hungry, I’m Robert”, the man, without pause or blink, answered back, “I’d rather be hungry; I can do something about that”.

Esau could do something about his hunger. He was a hunter for crying out loud! Where was the day’s catch? When Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright”, why didn’t Esau laugh in his face, grab a chunk of bread off the cutting board, and say ‘now dish me up some soup or I’ll squeeze your little pencil neck for being ridiculous’?

“Hey, friend, promise me that when you retire you’ll give me your pension each month, and I’ll give you this fast food burger in my hand.” Do you hear how absurd that is?