Esau's Resentment

After being deceived, Esau's assigned blessing is that he'll serve his brother but will eventually break free. He holds onto that - the promise that one day he'll not be subject.

Esau's waiting for the day he won't have to serve. He's holding onto resentment as a kind of strength, a future hope that things will flip.

I've known people shaped by resentment in that way - it's not healing, but it's a kind of endurance. As long as they believe things might change, they survive. The flip may never come, but the belief sustains.