When Esau became hungry at the end of a day, he asked his brother Jacob to give him some porridge. Wily man that he was, Jacob said that Esau could have it only if he sold him the birthright he had as the eldest son of Isaac. Esau's response was that the birthright didn't really matter because his hunger was what was important. The Bible records that in this Esau 'despised' his birthright (Ge.25:29-34). But when the time came for Isaac to bless Esau with the birthright, Jacob deceived him and got the blessing. What is interesting is Esau's reaction when he came to know this. He said, "He has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing" (v.36).
Did Jacob take away the birthright from Esau? No, Esau gave it to Jacob! Now it was payback day. He couldn't have the blessings because he had actually given them away earlier. We know that the way Jacob received his father's blessings was not right at all. But what we need to learn from Esau's reaction is that he didn't see it was really his choice that had given away the blessing.
Before we start thinking how foolish Esau was, let's take a look at ourselves and recall how we too have made wrong calls and then when the payback came we too couldn't see we had caused that to happen! We blame others or even God. It's not a matter of a short memory but a mark of our sinful nature. This nature will try its best not to face our own faults and find all kinds of explanations for what happens except that we 'asked for it' by our choices.
Esau cried much when he realised that he had lost the blessings (27:34). But he didn't repent of his foolish choice. As long as he wouldn't repent there was no chance of getting any blessing even if he cried loudly with regret that he couldn't get any blessing (He.12:16,17). But imagine what could have happened if only he had acknowledged his folly and cried out to God in repentance!
Let's not misunderstand grace as an unmerited favour that God will show to everyone and expect that no matter what we do and what choices we make at the time of testing, God will simply bless us. Certainly God is exceedingly gracious. But we can qualify for becoming a recipient of this grace only if we repent (Mt.4:17). If our entry into grace was through repentance and faith, our daily walk with Jesus must also be through repentance and grace, mustn't it?
God is not asking us to be perfect so that He can accept and bless us. He knows that we are only going to be imperfect as long as we are here on earth. But He wants us to be honest and acknowledge when we go wrong (1Jn.1:8). He is willing to forgive (v.9). But He cannot bless us if we will not be humble before Him and walk as if we were perfect and put all the blame on others, situations or even God. Let's not wait to learn it the hard way when the payback time comes. Just think of how much we can miss from God's blessings because we wouldn't humble ourselves.