I think the temptation is so often to want to find a silver bullet for every situation. We want the benefits of things without putting any investment into them.

We had an interesting discussion around the thought that perhaps this was one of the reasons God hated Esau but loved Jacob: because Esau despised his birthright - the birthright of needing to take on the burden of leading his father's household in the ways of the Lord that were strange to their neighbors - but he coveted the blessing and was angry he didn't get it.

Jacob, meanwhile, tended to his father's business (he was a man of the tents, implying he tended the household and the flock rather than going off hunting) and worked hard even with the blessing. He struggled with God, he didn't just expect God to bless him without the struggle. It can be easy to say he didn't understand God's grace, but God really did bless Jacob for wrestling with him.