Date: Wednesday, 10th July, 2024
Text: Hebrews 1:9
Author: Pastor Adedeji Fadehan
Exhortation:
When Jacob (Israel) was about to die, he gathered all his sons together and told them what was going to happen to them in the future. Concerning Rueben he said, “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it— He went up to my couch” Genesis 49:3-4
Thus, Rueben was cursed by his dad because many years before then he slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah (the maid of Rachel, Jacob’s first wife who became the mother of Dan and Naphthali) and dishonored his father’s bed (Genesis 35:22-25). He did it secretly thinking his father did not know. Unknown to him, his dad knew about it but never mentioned it to him until the day of his death.
His reckless and uncontrolled lifestyle brought an evil pronouncement upon his head and demoted him from his glorious position of excellence down to becoming an average person. Joseph, his little brother, who was equally tempted by the sin of immorality in the household of Potiphar (Genesis 39:6-12) but refused to bow to sexual sin, took his place.
Rueben lost his excellency of dignity and the excellency of power on the platform of sexual immorality and his life became unstable like the wild waves of the sea.
1st Chronicles 5:1 says, “Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.”
Righteousness indeed exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to a people- Proverbs 14:34.
If you desire to break free from the spirit of average, you must love righteousness and hate iniquity; then you will watch God as he pours his oil of gladness on you that will lift you far above all your contemporaries- Hebrews 1:9.
Prayer Nugget: Father, please, help me to climb higher in life; by your grace and mercy I will not engage in any activity that will bring me down.