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News From the Quiver April 2004 |
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Holy Highway, Sacred Road |
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The Sacred Road contains many stories of our Creator and our Savior that help us with our walk today. One story reminds us that we have an inheritance and a promise from our Creator. This story is about twin boys, Esau and Jacob and is in Gen 25:25-34. Esau was the first born but Jacob was born clutching Esau’s heel. Esau grew up and became a great hunter. One day, Esau came in from the field and was starving. Jacob had made a stew and Esau wanted some. Jacob was a quiet man but crafty. He told his brother he would trade him a bowl of his stew for Esau’s rights as the firstborn. (In Esau and Jacob’s tribe, the firstborn son had special blessings, called a birthright. This included a double portion of the inheritance and one day becoming the leader of the family). Esau was so hungry at that moment that he took Jacob’s offer and traded his birthright for food! Esau said “I’m starving! What good is my birthright if I’m dead!” Gen 25:32 The Message. It is said that Esau “despised” his birthright because he traded it for a bowl of stew. But later, when his birthright was indeed given to Jacob just before their father died, it is also said that Esau wept bitterly at his loss. Just before Jesus died, he spoke to the disciples and prayed for them. He gave his blessings to them in much the same way that a father gives his blessings to his firstborn. But unlike Esau’s father who told Esau he had no real blessing to give him because he had given it all to Jacob, Jesus gave to everyone the same. Nothing was held back. Nothing was reserved for only one—but it was freely given to all. Our birthright certainly is in the salvation we freely receive, but it is also in the blessings of life that Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17. When I think of Esau, I can hardly believe he gave it all away for a bowl of stew. There are many temptations in the world that would draw us away from the path.
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Although we don’t think of food as a temptation as much as we might consider drinking or drugs, or anger, “stew” can rob us of our inheritance just as easily. Diabetes can result and cut our life short or disable us from inheriting all the blessings that God wants to give us and those He wants to give others through us. Speaking for myself, I would pray that the grocery stores get rid of all high carb foods. That all the low carb foods would taste good and not cost so much. That all the annoying things that make us angry would disappear from our world. Or that liquor stores, and pornographic businesses, and drug dealerships would all go belly up. It’s a long list of weapons that our enemy throws at us. But Jesus prayed a different prayer that day for his disciples. And we are included in that prayer. In John 17:20, Jesus says “I’m praying not only for them But also for those who will believe in me.” (The Message) That means his blessings and prayers were not only for the disciples of that time, but also for each of us today who believe in Jesus. Jesus' prayer for us was not that the temptations would be removed from us. But instead, that we would be protected from them.John 17:15 “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (NIV) In John 16:33 he said “In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” If Jesus prayed it for us, there is an answer. We have so much more to live for than our enemy wants us to believe. Our birthright is worth more than a bowl of stew or anything else that the enemy puts in our path. It is to become one heart and mind with our Creator. To not join the world’s ways or be defined by the world. To be holy. To be filled with truth. To be in pursuit of the life that Creator gives through Jesus Christ. Jesus’ prayer for us was that we would not be conquered by the world but that we would conquer the world with His love. Our life’s journey is to be the answer to that prayer
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