Esau Made Life Bitter for his Parents

...Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Genesis 25:34 ESV

 

When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

Genesis 26:34-35 ESV

Esau, raised up as part of God's covenantal community, rejects the faith of his parents.  Though he was not the son of promise, not chosen to mediate the Abrahamic covenant, he was still called to the faith of the covenant yet it appears he rejected it.  His rebellion against God made life bitter for his parents.  It is my prayer for my own children that they not just rent the faith of their parents but own it for themselves.  I can model it, teach it, encourage it, but ultimately they must walk their own walk and we must pray for and trust that God will work in their hearts to do the work we cannot.  The new birth is not just a decision, but faith is evidence that God has done the miraculous work of regeneration in their hearts (John 3:3; 1 John 5:1).   Faith is the fruit of the new birth!