Despised

Introduction

We live in a world of short term thinking. We have the capability via technology to get access to almost anything. The motivation is instant gratification. A February 2, 2013 article in the Boston Globe reported the following: Retailers are jumping into same-day delivery services. Smartphone apps eliminate the wait for a cab, a date, or a table at a hot restaurant. Movies and TV shows begin streaming in seconds. But experts caution that instant gratification comes at a price: It’s making us less patient…We’ve come to expect things so quickly that researchers found people can’t wait more than a few seconds for a video to load. One researcher examined the viewing habits of 6.7 million internet users. How long were subjects willing to be patient? Two seconds. After that they started abandoning the site. After five seconds, the abandonment rate is 25 percent. When you get to 10 seconds, half are gone.” The results offer a glimpse into the future. As Internet speeds increase, people will be even less willing to wait for that cute puppy video. The researcher, who spent years developing the study, worries someday people will be too impatient to conduct studies on patience.

Our impatience is becoming persistent. I see students who want to complete assignments and tests quickly but in their haste they don’t do well. How many of us have found ourselves sitting at a red light and finding great impatience as we wait for the light to change? In business, we have those who persuade us that we can double our money in a short period of time and if we fall for it, we can find ourselves without the money in a short time. Instant gratification isn’t new but it is more pervasive. The ability to think long term is not always easy. Along with instant gratification comes the demand for instant happiness and instant success. We fail to recognize that such things do not last.

Today we will look at a story where instant gratification has long term consequences. We will be encouraged to think about what our long term goals are.

Prayers

Frank encouraged us last week with a message about prayer. Today we notice some other prayers as well. We are told that Isaac and Rebekah are not able to have children. Abraham and Sarah had to wait 25 years for a child and then only through the direct intervention of God did that happen. Here are Isaac and Rebekah waiting 20 years for a child. Isaac is about 60 years of age as our story unfolds. He knows the promise that God gave Abraham and gave him as well. So Isaac prays for God to give him children. He turns to the God that he trusts. God hears and answers his prayer. This was God’s plan all along.

Isaac and Rebekah are to have children. The promise is going to continue. But we notice something else. During her pregnancy, Rebekah has a war going on inside of her. So, she too, inquires of God. But notice her question. “Why are you letting this happen to me?” The wording is actually “Why did you let me get pregnant at all?” She must be in a lot of pain. Uncomfortable would be an understatement. God’s response is direct. You have two boys growing inside of you. They will become two great nations. They will always be at odds with each other. The older will serve the younger.

We are not told about Rebekah’s reaction. Did this encourage her? Lessen her faith? Discourage her? Sigh with resignation? Coin the phrase “sibling rivalry?” These are not identical twins. Esau is a hairy red mess. Jacob is a heel grabber. Deceiver is often used to explain his name but it is the idea of tripping up another. From the beginning Jacob is living out God’s plan. Esau is an outdoorsman. A manly man. He loves to be outside. Jacob is a home body. He prefers the inside to the outside. He is domestic in many ways. Esau is Isaac’s favorite because Esau brings in wild game. Jacob is Rebekah’s favorite.

After a period of hunting with no visible results Esau comes home ready to eat. He says he is starving. Jacob says he has something to sell. Esau agrees that a short term solution is better than a long term consequence that has no value if he dies. So the deal is made. Both boys are satisfied. But the Bible tells us that Esau acted in contemptuous ways. He had no regard for his inheritance as the first born.

So What?

The primary lesson from this text has to do with recognizing that long term thinking is often better than short term thinking. Esau is criticized in the text. Jacob is not. The focus is not on Jacob’s deceit. In fact, the way the story is told, Jacob is seen as a business man. He is a heel grabber but the story focuses on Esau’s short term thinking. The Hebrew writer in 12:16 calls Esau immoral. But do not think of immorality in sexual terms, but rather think about of the idea of prostituting oneself. Esau sold himself for a meal. He exchanged the valuable for the temporary. He put feelings ahead of conscience. He paid a lot for a little.

Instant gratification is about pleasing self. It is about getting what you want now. It is about satisfied feelings. We buy the latest gadget not because the last one is worn out but because we want to feel something.

We engage in relationships that are not God honoring because we want to feel accepted, valued, and good when those relationships take us away from God.

We fall for the scam because we are at our core greedy and seeking instant success rather than dealing with the greed that drives us.

When we seek to please our selfish ways, we lose more than patience we lose our ability to listen to God and to seek his ways.

But there is a second lesson from this story that is secondary only in the sense that it isn’t front and center in the storyline. Before the twins were born God announced what their lives and relationship would be like. These boys would not get along. These boys would be at odds with each other. While both boys would in time produce great nations, the older would eventually serve the younger. This happens when David is king in 2 Samuel 8. The point is this—God knows what is going to happen.

It takes nearly a 1000 years for the prophesy to come true, but it does come true. If God could see through Rebekah’s womb to the two boys who were there and tell her what would happen to each one, then surely he is worthy of our faith.

This was written centuries before the event. The God who is able to tell what will happen 1000 years before it does and then can work in this world to make it happen can be trusted. His other words are to be trusted as well.

If this same God says that one is coming into this world to be born of a virgin and one does 700 years later, then this God can be trusted.

If this God says that a day is coming when he will send this resurrected Christ back for us, then he can be trusted. The fact that it hasn’t happened yet has for 2 millennium been used to prove that God cannot be trusted. But this God doesn’t deal in time the way we do. Our God is not bound by time as we are. For him a 1000 years is but a day. Our God has no watch or calendar. But what he has provided for us is his word over and over again to demonstrate that we can trust him.

Short term thinking reflects on what feels good now. Long term thinking reflects on the marathon of faith that will result in the completion of a promise made by the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and countless generations since—I will come and get you to be with me forever.

Invitation.

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