Just a crumb from reading Genesis 25 this morning...

Esau.  

Impulsive.  Crude.  Unrefined.  He eats, bolts down, slurps down, wipes his mouth on the back of his hand and leaves.  Maybe he belches.  Maybe he doesn’t because he doesn’t feel like complimenting Jacob on his stew.  He does not think of the future.  He doesn’t hardly think at all.  He is like a beast.  A hairy red beast.  That is how the narrative wants us to think of him.  Interestingly appetite is the metaphor for both Esau and Isaac.  Appetite.  Men of their stomachs.  

How’m i doing, Lord?  How often am i not ruled by my stomach?  Forgetting even to thank you for my food before digging into it.  Fasting is ruling over the stomach.  Ruling over the appetites.  A beast thinks only of its next meal.  Survival.  A man can fast.  Can chose to forego the meal in order to seek something greater.  An infant screams because it is hungry.  A weaned child can sit calmly.  A man must rule over his appetites, desires and physical weakness.  Self-control.  A gift of the Spirit.  An attribute of Christ.  Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word which comes from the mouth of God.  Give us appetites for the Bread of Heaven.