Yesterday, I mentioned Jacob’s wrestling match with God. The backstory on that account is that Jacob, who was a few minutes younger than his twin brother Esau, was insanely jealous of the birthright his brother inherited by coming out of the womb first. Now Esau was kind of a big lug of a guy and he was often out in the fields hunting. On the other hand, Jacob was a nerdy bookworm who liked to dwell in tents; because of his academic prowess, he felt himself better suited to be the leader of the family. Accordingly, in a moment of passion, a hedonistic and hungry Esau was taken advantage of by Jacob and sold his birthright to his brother for a bowl of soup. Later on, Jacob again manipulated Esau by stealing his blessing while their senile father, Isaac, was on his deathbed. However, after attaining the blessing and the birthright, Jacob’s life immediately got harder as he became the target of his brother’s wrath. When Esau vowed to kill him, he had no choice other than to run away, and he spent 20 years in relative obscurity. 

Friend, the wisdom I want you to remember from this story is that a birthright and blessing will not immediately make your life easier. In fact, once you have the thing you most want, you may be surprised at the challenges you face. Just because you are blessed doesn’t mean you will arrive at your destination without struggle and obscurity. Though your Heavenly Father has called you His own and designated an unfading inheritance for you, you must patiently await its revelation. There’s always a battle before the blessing manifests, but when you hold your Savior’s hand and trust the goodness of His heart, He will bring the promise to fulfillment in His time and strengthen and uphold you in every day of waiting.