"After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing." His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" "I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau." Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!"When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me—me too, my father... Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?"
Smith Wigglesworth, the great apostle of faith in the early part of the 20th century, who God used to raise many people from the dead, used to say, " I'd rather have the anointing of God for 10 minutes than to own the whole world with a fence round it." The anointing and the blessing of God are one and the same. It is the most precious thing anyone can possess. To lose it is to lose all.
Loss is a grievous thing. Loss of any sort can be painful. Loss of a loved one, an opportunity, or a precious possession are all painful experiences, but I think the loss Esau faced here is one of the most excruciatingly painful loss that one could face. Esau lost the blessing. It rightly belonged to him. It was his birthright, but it got taken from him. He lost the opportunity to inherit Abraham's blessing, to be in the savior's lineage. He lost a future.
It was such a painful loss that he burst into loud cries and wept bitterly. He had despised the blessing before, but suddenly he realized what he lost when it was too late. He didn't just lose it then. He lost it long ago when he sold his birthright to Jacob for a single meal. The harvest of his unwise decision just manifested and his eyes opened to realize what he just missed. They say, people don't know what they've got until it's gone. When something is taken away, then it becomes more valuable because people often don't value what they have.
The lesson of today is that the blessing can be lost. An opportunity to be anointed can be taken away. A calling can be diminished or destroyed no matter it's previous promise. Paul in I Cor 9:27 says: "No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." David prayed after his affair with Bathsheba, " Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me." (Psalm 51:11). Samson realized it when the philistines were on him after telling Delilah the secret of his power" Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him." (Judges 16:20)
What operations of God are in your life today? What blessings, grace or favor is flowing today? Value it. Honor it. Protect it. Be vigilant. Be aware. It can be easily lost. It is a loss greater than any other loss to have once experienced the overflowing touch of God with the promise that comes with it and then to throw it all away for a single fleshly pleasure. The effect is deeper than depression. Ask Saul, who lost the anointing of God to have it replaced by a demonic, murderous, depressive, spirit o insanity.
So value and hang on to the promises of God, the channels of blessings in your life, the grace you already enjoy and the uncommon blessings of God you see. Don't take them lightly. They are the most important things you've got. Hang on to them tenaciously.
Decision of the Day
I will hold on to God's blessing in my life. I will not trivialize it. I will hold it in high esteem. I will no lose it. It is all I've got.
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