# 443 Indecisive?

The Book of Genesis

Day 443

Ge 49:1 And Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:  2 "Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father.  3 "Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength, The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.  4 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.

Jacob, ready to die, calls his sons together to tell them what will befall them in their latter years. He starts with the oldest, Reuben. Being the first born, he is called the father’s might and beginning of strength. He was strong, harshly rough, and off to a good start. But sexual sin and instability would plague him.   At this point it might be wise to encourage any young person reading this to beware of falling into sexual sin. You can read about its negative effects in the Book of Proverbs!

Reuben began dabbling in sexual sin at a very early age when he gathered mandrakes for his mother Leah. Mandrakes were considered a sort of love potion. This was just not normal activity for a son. It’s an indication of an unhealthy preoccupation with sex. Later he would commit incest with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. This latter indiscretion cost him his birthright.

Jacob calls Reuben as “unstable as water.” The idea being like that of boiling water. Go ahead watch a pot of boiling water and try to predict where the next bubble will show up! You can’t! It’s too unstable, and so was Reuben.

This instability would show up later with the Reubenites in the days of the judges. When Deborah called upon them to join the fight against a common enemy, they couldn’t make up their mind to fight or not! We read in Judges 5:15,16, that they had “great thoughts of the heart, and great searchings of the heart.” They spent so much time thinking and searching, that they froze and did nothing!

The tribe of Reuben would produce no prophet, judge, or hero, but that is to be expected from those who are as “unstable as water.” It’s the lot of those who hem and haw and can’t make up their mind. It’s like you and I when doubts assail us and we fail to exercise faith in the Word of God.

The way to overcome that “Reuben” in us is to begin by taking small steps of faith. Day by day trusting the Word of God. Once you start doing this, you will find out how utterly reliable God is, and your instability and uncertainty will begin to fade. You don’t have to be a Reuben! Start with small steps of obedience and trust today!