Never Quite Getting It

Scripture: Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth. Genesis 28:8-9

Observation: Jacob has cheated Esau out of his blessing, and is now being sent to his ancestral homeland to find a wife. Jacob has been told specifically to find a daughter of Laban, Rebekah's brother, and one of the reasons for sending Jacob there is because the local Canaanite women are not appropriate. Esau has, in fact, married two of them, and they exhaust Rebekah and are just bad daughters-in-law.

Esau takes this all in. He sees Jacob is now blessed, he sees that his past decisions have been disapproved of, and he sees an example of what would be acceptable. So Esau ... once again does something different. He doesn't get rid of his Canaanite wives. He doesn't go to the family in Ur for a wife. He instead goes to the family of his half-uncle Ishmael and marries his daughter, who is therefore likely half Egyptian.

Esau is an example who keeps "hearing" the lesson that what he is doing is wrong, but doesn't "learn" the lesson that he should therefore seek wise council for his next actions. He decides what to do, it doesn't work, so he decides on something else, and that 'something else' is really just a small variation from the first failed action.

He never quite gets the fact that his family is special in the eyes of the Lord, and thus he should align his behaviors to that mission and purpose. Whether it is how he chooses a wife, or how he interacts with his mother, or how he throws away inheritance, or how he responds to having been wronged, or how he chooses what land to settle ... Esau decides for himself what to do, sees that was wrong, but and never quite gets the point.

Application: Esau's actions are pretty common, and I have behaved like him. I have made decisions, had them not work out, so just made new decisions as if I 'learned from my mistake'. That isn't a process that is faithful to God's will ... a process whereby I should consult with the Lord for my decisions and actions, and follow his guidance. That is a process where I don't make decisions, I trust in the Lord's decisions and wisdom and knowledge and plan, and simply obey it.

This is what it means to "get it". It means to learn that my decisions will always be flawed - successful only by random chance - and the Lord's direction is always perfect. I desire to be less like Esau in this regard, and to find the Lord's advice more often, relying less on my plans and decisions.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your advice and wisdom. You are so very wise! I also know that the best things in my life have occurred when I have just surrendered to your plan. May I remember that in every decision, big and small, every day. Amen.