The spiritual is so true, nor does it refer only to death: “I’ve got to walk this lonesome valley. Nobody here can walk it for me. I’ve got to walk it for myself.” What will you do? Well, Esau did not run away, cursing his brother, bitter with his father, incensed at his mother. He did not. He went into his father with his sorrow and with his heartbreak. There was no attempt to shield the anguish of his spirit or the tears in his eyes. The Scriptures say that Esau lifted up his voice and wept. I think that there is a place in God’s service and among God’s children for everything except quitting and turning away. There are days when we must cry out to God, hurt and angry like Job, saying, “I wish I knew where I could find God. I would argue my case before his presence.” In disappointment, our cry ought never to be “Well, I won’t try any longer.”
This is not to say that God does not allow us our hot, fretful moods, when we pound the table before his presence, angry, feeling wronged. It is too much to ask of us an everlastingly calm and gentle spirit, even in our dealings with God. When we rush before his presence, pouring out hot words of resentment, we need not fear that he will not understand. God knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. We can bring any mood before God, so long as we cling to our integrity of soul. When all of this is said, the ultimate cry of higher religion must ever be “though he slay me, yet will I serve him.” Even in his moment of bitter disappointment, Esau held on to his love and held on to his belief that his father, Isaac, could bless his soul. There was his bitter lament, surely. There was Esau’s raised voice and hurt countenance, yes. But amidst it all was his stubborn, unconquerable faith that his father could still bestow upon his poor, helpless head a mercy that would follow him all the days of his life. There’s poignancy and pathos in Esau’s cry, but there is also a great triumphant faith as he blurts out his prayer before his father, “Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” I know all of us sometimes feel that desire of our heart has been taken away. There are times in life when the days seem hardly worth living, when the sun has left the sky, and we walk through a grim, gray, cloudy time. But always we must remember that the Lord can still bless us in our sorrow and in our disappointment. He can make bitter waters sweet for us, and he can turn cloudy days sunny. He can turn valleys of sorrow into sunlit paths of joy. This God with whom we deal never leaves and never forsakes. He is always nearby. Our Calvary may be painful and lonely, our course rough and cruel, but God can and will heal our hurts and soothe our sorrows and turn our griefs into glad hosannas. The Judge of all the earth will do right. The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.
To be continued…