Girl Guy Week 5

Girl Guy Week 5 - Redeem

Gen 25:27-34

Jacob & Esau were twin brothers in the O.T. and Jacob was the 2nd born. Isaac the father loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob (can you feel the tension in the story). One day Esau comes in from the fields and is "dying" of starvation. Jacob had just whipped up some red stew (which I am sure was delicious). Esau "dying" of hunger wants some stew - Jacob recognizes his advantage over his brother in the moment and says if you give me your birthright then I will give you this stew.

To fully understand this we have to understand what the birthright meant and why it is a big deal. Isaac the father had become very wealthy and had lots of possessions, land, and animals. The oldest male had a birthright to inherit this from the father. So this wasn't just a beat up old horse that he would get it was riches beyond what any one man could dream of. It also entailed a blessing from the father before his death.

So when Esau hands it over for some stew we have to wonder what he was thinking. Why would someone trade something so valuable for something like stew?

Now think about sex, marriage, and the way God intended things to be. How often in our culture do we settle for stew instead of the thing God had in store for us? As teens sometimes it is so easy to just see a couple minutes, hours, days in front of you and base what you do off that - instead of realizing that God has so much more in store. His design is so much better but we often don't think ahead we just live for the what will please me right now.

Our culture tells us that if you are attracted to someone then you should connect with them physically and then emotionally, socially, and spiritually. The way of God is to connect spiritually realizing that brings everything else in perspective that is the foundation to go off of. Then socially, emotionally and lastly physically joining together.

What happens when you connect physically but then you don't connect on the other levels? Or the physical appearance changes? What then?

Read Psalm 51 - David had just been caught trying to cover up his mistake of just wanting to connect with the physical then he tries covering up his adultery and ends up killing off the husband of the woman he cheated with. Psalm 51 is as raw as they get - you can almost picture David before God pleading with him - desiring to be restored - true repentance desires God more than getting away with something or not having consequences.

We can all be restored - we all choose stew sometimes - let us be the type of people that choose the way of God over the stew.