Devotion
Only fools rush in
David Jacobs
If you use computers or Apple products at all, you have all signed the "Terms and Conditions" of software and probably not read a single word of it. I know that I have. We usually just check the box stating that we agree without ever considering what the updated terms and conditions states. These updates are usually fine, but what about the scam emails that many people also receive? These emails usually offer millions of dollars to you, but in order to unlock the funds we must send a small amount of money first. Few people fall for these scams nowadays, but it is only because so many people fell for them before. We have learned to discern what is and is not a scheme, considering all options before we sign the dotted line.
In these verses, we discover some of the major differences between Esau and Jacob. Esau was a cunning hunter, loved by his father, Isaac, and Jacob a more sensitive farmer, loved by his mother, Rebekah. Esau was the elder twin, so he inherited the birthright, which in those times meant he basically inherited all of his father's fortune. Being second in his father's eyes became a bit of an obsession of Jacob, and being first made Esau flippant with his birthright, not considering it nearly as important as Jacob did as evidenced by these verses. Esau swears his birthright to Jacob for a meal, an outrageous exchange that sounds familiar today: "I am so hungry I could eat a horse" and "I would die for a hamburger right now" are phrases we might hear in modern society, hyperbolic statements that nobody would take seriously. Esau, exhausted and famished, seems to make such a statement, and Jacob takes it seriously.
Prayer
Like checking the box on the terms and conditions, Esau did not fully think before he spoke, and it cost him in more ways than one: he spurned his birthright, forfeiting his inheritance for a meal, and he dishonored his family name. Consider these verses the next time you agree to something. Being patient may make a difference.
Devotion
Misrepresenting God
Frances Taylor
This passage is one I try very hard to take to heart. For over forty years, I have worked to bring the gospel message to children and adults alike. That is what I'm doing as I write this. It is so important that we don't misrepresent God to others. When someone tells me they don't believe in God, I wonder whose image of God they have been taught. When I was a child, it was common to hear that God was some policeman in the sky that was going to punish me for everything I did wrong. The idea of a loving, forgiving God was not taught as the norm. Ministers and other teachers of religion often spoke more of hellfire and damnation. It's no wonder that there are those who claim that God doesn't exist. On the other hand, there are those who taught that God was like Santa Claus, keeping track of our good deeds and rewarding us accordingly, or tracking our misdeeds and punishing us accordingly. Neither of these images of God are accurate. God is loving ...
Morning Prayer
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
Inspiration
Those in ancient Israel, as today and in all lands, who prey upon the poor and vulnerable, who pervert justice against them and deny them their rights, sin against God. His eyes see, his eyelids try the children of men, and nothing is done in secret where he does not know.
Prayer
Give me a heart of compassion, O Lord, for the weak and helpless, for the poverty stricken, for widows and orphans. And give me a righteous indignation against those who oppress them, pervert their justice, or deny their rights. Amen.
