Genesis 25:19-34
19 This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.
Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram[c] and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red,and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.[d] 26 After this, his brother came out,with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.[e] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.[f])
31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.
At war within every one of us are our desires. Some of them are urgent and loud, they demand to be heard and appeased. Others are deep and quiet. These are the things that we truly long for in life, such as peace, relationships, prosperity. The trouble is that our loudest appetites are rarely our deepest ones.
Listen to the way that Esau’s appetites speak to him. “If I do not eat immediately, I will die.” This is so dramatic. But this is how our appetites lead us. When you hunger for something or someone, it feels so urgent and so uncontrollable, as if you would die of you did not receive it. However, the cost can be huge.
Our appetites are great signposts but terrible guides. They tell us that something is missing but if we let them dictate what we do and when we do it, then we will be easily manipulated and deceived.
In the early church, they would fast once a week. This was a way for them to be in control of their desires, and to focus on their deepest love: God. In all of the urgency that we find ourselves in with all the pressures around us, it is most often our faith that loses out. So, they would fast every week and spend time in prayer daily.
Just because an appetite is loud does not mean that it is important or urgent.
