Bartered Birthright

Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:5.
Isaac loved Esau better than Jacob. And when he thought that he was about to die he requested Esau to prepare him meat, that he might bless him before he died…. Rebekah heard the words of Isaac, and she remembered the words of the Lord, “The elder shall serve the younger,” and she knew that Esau had lightly regarded his birthright and sold it to Jacob….
Rebekah was acquainted with Isaac’s partiality for Esau, and was satisfied that reasoning would not change his purpose. Instead of trusting in God, the Disposer of events, she manifested her lack of faith by persuading Jacob to deceive his father….
If Esau had received the blessing of his father, which was bestowed upon the first-born, his prosperity could have come from God alone; and He would have blessed him with prosperity, or brought upon him adversity, according to his course of action. If he should love and reverence God, like righteous Abel, he would be accepted and blessed of God. If, like wicked Cain, he had no respect for God nor for His commandments, but followed his own corrupt course, he would not receive a blessing from God but would be rejected of God, as was Cain. If Jacob’s course should be righteous, if he should love and fear God, he would be blessed of God, and the prospering hand of God would be with him, even if he did not obtain the blessings and privileges generally bestowed upon the first-born.
Jacob and Rebekah succeeded in their purpose, but they gained only trouble and sorrow by their deception. God had declared that Jacob should receive the birthright, and His word would have been fulfilled in His own time had they waited in faith for Him to work for them. But like many who now profess to be children of God, they were unwilling to leave the matter in His hands. Rebekah bitterly repented the wrong counsel she had given her son; it was the means of separating him from her, and she never saw his face again.
Conflict and Courage p. 62
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Prayer Requests
—–Please pray that B can find a job that he is more suited for and that will be able to support his family. L
—– Prayers for my Dad. He’s being admitted to the hospital for another blockage. It’s been 4 months since his last episode, which is a long time for him! But he’s making up for it. Marion
—— Please pray for my daughter Jordan as she is very sick with the flu. She was so enthusiastic talking about her desires to help other children serve Jesus just last night at the National Family Retreat in Oklahoma but then this morning and all day has been suffering intensely. Mark
——update—Gayle is gaining strength. We have made some decisions regarding treatment and are pursuing them. Mike
—–Please pray for Alicia whose Uncle Wayne passed away Friday.
—–Please pray for Ryan’s niece who has sturge-webber syndrome.
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Dear Friends,
Now that we are close to retirement, we are downsizing from a three-bedroom trailer to a fifth-wheel. Some things are going to my children, some are being donated, some I am going to try to sell, and some are being thrown away because all the wear in them that could possibly be gotten has been gotten. There are a few items, however, that I am finding hard to decide which child to give that item to. One such item is a quilt my mother made when I was a little girl. She made many beautiful things from solid embroidery over the years but her largest project was a full-sized quilt with all the state birds of the (then) 48 states. She bought transfers for these, but as she worked, she did not like them, so she re-drew them to make them look more realistic. She spent many hours in the library researching each state bird. She looked at picture after picture of a particular bird and then would duplicate it in embroidery. Many times she would be nearly finished, but as she looked at it, she would not be satisfied and would take out all the threads and start over.