Fixing your own Problems
"Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had." (Gen 28:8-9)
Have you ever tried to get yourself out of a pickle, only
to find that you have only gotten yourself deeper into
trouble? Esau did! Let's take a look:
Our friend Esau was a rather independent sort. He
thrived on adventure, becoming a skillful hunter, a man of
the open country (Gen. 25:28). And when it came time
for him to choose a wife, he apparently didn't bother
consulting his parents. The Bible says that "he
married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also
Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite." (Gen
26:34).
Being adventuresome and independent might have brought
Esau joy in life, except for one little problem:
Jacob! This feisty younger brother had already
succeeded in cheating him out of his birthright and his
blessing. And to make matters worse, it came to
Esau's attention that his parents don't approve of his
marriages (Gen. 26:35: "They were a source of
grief to Isaac and Rebecca." and Gen. 27:46: "Rebekah
said to Isaac, 'I'm disgusted with living because of these
Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women
of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will
not be worth living.'") Because of this, they
were sending Jacob away, commanding him to "not marry a
Canaanite woman" (Gen. 28:1), but to "Go at once to
Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel.
Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters
of Laban, your mother's brother." (Gen 28:2-3)
At this point, Esau must have started to wonder if he
could do anything right! His father blesses
Jacob instead of him, and now, he learns that his parents
don't approve of his marriages! So what does Esau
do? He decides to take measures on his own to "fix"
the problem! He goes and takes a third wife
from the daughters of Ishmael, his father's half-brother!
Did Esau's third marriage bring joy to his parents?
We aren't told. But somehow, it must have made Esau
feel like he was in his parents' better graces to be
married to someone of the family. Perhaps now he
could regain his father's approval! However, no
matter what Isaac and Rebekah thought about Esau's third
wife, this would NOT stop the problems created by the
first two, and more than likely, the addition of a third
wife might have made things a little tense in Esau's
home!
What can we learn from this story? That it is better
to seek advice before going out on our own,
making decisions that will not only affect us, but will
also affect those around us! But we all make bad
decisions from time to time, and this story can teach us
that when we realize our serious error, this is NOT the
time to continue to take things back into our own hands!
If we do stubbornly try to correct our errors on
our own, we chance only making things worse.
What should we do instead? We should do what Esau
should have done! We should seek advice--from
others, from parents, and mostly from God--before
we mess up. But when we do find ourselves to be
victims of our own demise, we must not go on
trying to correct our mistakes on our own! It will
only make things first. Instead, we must learn to
give the problem to God. Let Him figure it out!
And when we do, we won't just be covering up our mistakes
with new ones, instead we'll be truly allowing God to
"fix" the problem!
Father God, help me learn to seek YOUR advice BEFORE
making decisions. But Lord, when I do mess
up, help me to remember to give the problems I create to
YOU instead of trying to fix them up on my own!
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets (
www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/ ), Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org ,