When The Stew Runs Out
“Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (Genesis 25:29-30)
I’m a Bluebell Ice Cream fan. When my scoop hits the bottom of the round cardboard container, my first reaction is to jump in the car and run to Walgreen’s to restock. Walgreen’s usually sells it slightly cheaper than anyone else.
Although Bluebell is awesome, I would not drive to the store in a blizzard to buy another carton, or pay an inflated price in order to keep my freezer stocked. I’m blessed to be able to enjoy its flavor, but I’m also fairly rational in my understanding of where Bluebell Ice Cream fits in the plan of life.
There are those, however, who, so to speak, “put all their eggs in one basket”. They would risk everything on one thing. It could be a ticket to Game 5 of the NBA finals at Ball Arena in Denver, or admission to an Elton John concert, or going into debt to fund a family vacation to Disney World.
And then when the event or adventure is over, what then?
There was a man named Esau who had that tendency to forfeit future blessings for current wants. His story involves a younger brother (Jacob) who desires something important that Esau has that he will not be granted. Jacob treasures it, but Esau undervalues it.
Jacob had some exceptional culinary skills. One day he cooked up a pot of lentil stew. Esau, famished from a day of hunting for wild game, came home and got a whiff of the stew’s aroma. At that moment, he traded the thing that he had that his brother Jacob desired…for a bowl of stew. Delayed gratification was not Esau’s strong point, and his weakness took his life in a different direction than he and his father had planned for it.
A bowl of stew.
What happens when the spoon scrapes across the bottom of the bowl and there is nothing left to fill the spoon?
What happens when a person realizes he has put all of his eggs in one basket and he trips, falls, and squashes whole lot of them?
Spiritually speaking, it seems to happen to a lot of people. There is an over-emphasis on things or moments that quickly pass away and a neglecting of the spiritual promises and “the peace that surpasses all understanding.”
This past week, we had a major hailstorm hit our area. There was so much hail and rain that our sump pump couldn’t ‘t stay up with it. Thus, my wife and I worked like crazy to “stem the tide”. It reminded me of one of those scenes from the classic movie The Blob (Steve McQueen version), as we fought back the water creeping across the floor. However, there’s one thing about water in the basement that is kind of a clarifying moment. It reminds you of what can suddenly be gone that you thought was so essential.
Our trash guys will need to be tipped this week!
The daily bread of God is much more satisfying than one bowl of sweet-smelling stew. The temptation to take care of the immediate want leads a person to an emptiness that will never be filled. There are a lot of Esau stories today, people who are looking at the bottom of the soup bowl and saying, “That’s it?”
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