Listen to Your Father

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LISTEN TO YOUR FATHER

Gen 49:1-4

49:1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. 2 "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

3 "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. 4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.

NIV

As Jacob knows his death is imminent he wants to give a blessing to each of his sons, so they have been called in to beside his bed. Interestingly, Jacob knew that he would speak prophetic words to each son. Although the blessing on Reuben has the pronouncement of the sin he committed against his father and that he was the firstborn who should have inherited all that was his father’s, he would not. It was years ago when Jacob was living in Midgal Eder where he pitched his tent in the region when Ruden went into the tent of Bilhah the maidservant of Rachel and slept with her. We are told Jacob knew what Reuben had done. We know from the history recorded in scripture the tribe of Reuben did not play any important role in Israel. Although as interesting as this is, our story is not solely about the blessing of Reuben, but rather about what Jacob said before he began each prophetic blessing. “Sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel”.  Here is where we come in. We too have a Father who has told us to assemble and listen to his prophetic blessings upon us. This is not a matter of assembling ourselves in the church to hear some preacher expound on the word of God, but it is when we gather ourselves together in our quiet time to listen to the voice of God within us, speaking to our hearts, blessing us. We already know the first and foremost blessing of God and His name is Jesus. He was sent to redeem us, to restore us into proper relationship with our Father, by paying the price for our offense against our Father. Reuben paid the price for his offense against his father, but we do not need to pay the price because Jesus did that for us. Then God speaks more blessings on us throughout his word. Some have conditions such as we who are humble, are blessed, and will inherit the kingdom of heaven. And there are reasons we will be blessed as Jesus taught in his sermon on the Mount. One of the greater if not the greatest blessing is we have been given eternal life. Our Father only wants to do the very best for our lives, but it still comes down to gathering ourselves to his side and listening to him as he speaks into our hearts and minds. We should always gather around, and listen to our Father.