{"id":4495,"date":"2018-01-04T18:28:27","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T01:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=4495"},"modified":"2018-01-04T18:28:27","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T01:28:27","slug":"regrets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=4495","title":{"rendered":"Regrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY….<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0“<\/em><\/sup>When Esau heard his father\u2019s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. \u201cOh my father, what about me? Bless me, too!\u201d he begged….Esau pleaded, \u201cBut do you have only one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!\u201d Then Esau broke down and wept.”<\/em> \u00a0 \u00a0Genesis 27:34,38<\/p>\n

Regrets….we all have them. Some are a result of quick decisions that we would like to “have back.” Others are a result of choices, habits or a lifestyle. Esau stands out in scripture as one who made a decision to sell his future for a bowl of stew. Later that decision along with Jacob’s deception to receive the blessing that would normally accompany the oldest son set the course for Esau’s life.<\/p>\n

I was reading in Proverbs lately and these verses stood out to me. They are some challenging and “tough” words of scripture. They are harsh words. They are words of consequence for those who reject the Lord’s wisdom and snub their nose at His correction. When we fail to learn wisdom, when we need wisdom it will not always be as easy to attain as we would like.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they cry for help, I will not answer. T<\/span>hough they anxiously search for me, they will not find me.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>For they hated knowledge\u00a0<\/span>and chose not to fear the Lord<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>They rejected my advice\u00a0<\/span>and paid no attention when I corrected them.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>choking on their own schemes.”<\/em> (Proverbs 1:28-31 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the New Testament the writer of Hebrews reflects back on the life of Esau as a challenge to be wise in conduct and choices is presented.<\/p>\n

“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God…See that no one is…godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.”<\/em> (Hebrews 12:15-17 NIV)<\/p>\n

Esau did receive a blessing from Isaac. But is was an inferior blessing, it actually carried the character of a curse,<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will live away from the richness of the earth,\u00a0<\/span>and away from the dew of the heaven above.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>You will live by your sword,\u00a0<\/span>and you will serve your brother.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>But when you decide to break free,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>you will shake his yoke from your neck.\u201d<\/em> (Genesis 27:39,40 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We see in the years to come that Esau was a leader men of men and accumulated possessions. The Lord did prove Himself gracious and faithful. But it was not the life that the Lord intended.<\/p>\n

Some one once observed, “we make our choices and then our choices make us.”\u00a0<\/em>Those are sobering words, those are true words. We must know what matters most. We must seek to live in the fear of the Lord and to be people of wisdom that keep our focus on the eternal instead of the temporal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY….\u00a0\u00a0“When Esau heard his father\u2019s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. \u201cOh my father, what about me? Bless me, too!\u201d he begged….Esau pleaded, \u201cBut do you have only one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!\u201d Then Esau broke down and wept.” \u00a0 \u00a0Genesis 27:34,38 Regrets….we all have them. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4496,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495\/revisions\/4496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}