LET REUBEN LIVE AND NOT DIE

"Let Reuben live and not die nor his people be few..."
Deuteronomy 33: 6

Reuben was Jacob's first child. He was the heir apparent. He should have become the custodian of the Abrahamic covenant by natural order.

One day, lust came knocking at his door. The object of his lust was his father's concubine. He had a choice - put his body under or let the lust prevail. He chose to let the lust prevail. Perhaps he thought "You Only Live Once" (YOLO).

I don't believe he thought sleeping with his father's concubine was such a big deal. I can imagine him asking if it was even proper for his father to have a concubine. I can imagine him rationalizing his sin with "nobody holy pass".

After his father found out about Reuben's "indiscretion", he said NOTHING. For many years, there seemed to be no repercussions of the "indiscretion" (some suggest that he actually raped her as she was older than he was). Then on his father's death bed, when he was probably expecting to be given a double portion of the inheritance and be named as the custodian of the Abrahamic covenant, his father told him instead that he would not excel. Huh? His lust for his father's concubine was not a harmless feeling at all. It came to steal his glorious future.

I remember a sessipn I facilitated where we discussed adultery. The question was actually how a woman should react if she learns that her husband is unfaithful. The responses were interesting. Since there was a few men in the session, I decided to ask them why men cheat. Their responses were equally enlightening. One of the men said that many men cheat because they don't realize that there are GRAVE consequences. That rang true and stuck! Of course, there is that one guy that got a blow job from a random stranger then claimed she was a sea witch and had to return his destiny that she swallowed when she swallowed his sperm. We all know that his village airforce are preventing him from greatness, right?

So, for many years, Reuben and his children lived under the deserved curse. His past was hunting him. I can imagine how difficult life was. At the time Reuben himself died, the curse was still reigning. All through Moses' lifetime, the Reubenites struggled under that curse, though they were God's chosen people. Then, just before Moses died, he pronounced a blessing upon Israel. He started with Reuben and proclaimed "Let Reuben live and not die nor his people be few". It was a change in the lineage of Reuben. The "curse" had been reversed.

Today, if like Reuben, you have had an indiscretion that no one is talking about and all appears to be well, I implore you to fall on your knees and ask the Lord for mercy. Ask Him to help you. If you have been laboring under a curse due to your (in)actions, it's time to go to the Throne of Grace and receive mercy.

If you are yet to come to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus, please get in touch. I can help. Please send me a message either here or in an email to womentellingafricanstories@gmail.com

"Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling; Calling 'O sinner come home'"

Enjoy your day.