Stability

The New Year is upon us.  What do we need as Christians?  While there are many things, what is needed most is what is lacking so much—stability.  The nations of the world are so unstable.  All the recent uprising in Middle Eastern countries has been front page news for months.  There is a lot of  instability in the USA too, even down to the personal levels of people’s lives.  So many lives seem to be falling apart from one day to the next.

In this scripture Jacob is blessing his sons, beginning specifically with his oldest son Reuben, Leah’s child.  She loved him.  His focus was still on Rachel, so when the boy was born she named him Reuben saying that maybe now Jacob would love her.  He was the oldest and thereby in line for the birthright, but look what the scripture says about him.

Genesis 49: ³Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: ⁴Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

Reuben is a good example to use.  Even those close to the Lord in the Bible stories had times of trouble. Why is it hard to maintain a steady course and be spiritually stable?  The main reason is that Satan doesn’t want us to so he tries everything he can to hinder us.  He doesn’t care if we’re stable in our jobs.  He’ll leave our stability alone in many areas, but he works on our spiritual stability.

If it can happen to Reuben, it can happen to you and me.  Haven’t you had problems with it before?  The devil wants to take our ability to maintain the course.  Falling away is affecting all nations and groups of people.  It’s working on even the strongest of Christians.  Never think that you’re above backsliding.  Each of us is susceptible to that.  The Bible warns us against false teachings and things that beguile us.

Jacob was honest in his assessment. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. At one time Reuben was very stable.  His brothers respected him.  When Joseph was young, he taunted his brothers with his dreams.  The others wanted to kill him, but Reuben stopped that.  He had integrity.  He was a leader to the others.  They could count on him.

This should speak to us because all of a sudden Jacob changed to the negative and said Reuben was unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. He described a completely different person, but it was the same person.  How did he lose who he was?  He was not a little unglued.  He was unstable as water.  Water won’t hold together without a container.  How are you holding it together?  It matters what you were, but what are you now?  Reuben took that for granted.

The Bible tells us a few chapters back that Reuben saw his father’s concubine, and he went in to her and lay with her.  Reuben was never the same again.  He lost his stability.  He had given into the flesh and became unstable as water.  You may say that you’d never be there, but you could be.  Many have.  Reuben went from the leader of integrity to someone like water, wishy-washy and falling apart.  The devil can do that if we let him.  The Bible says for us to beware and not stray from our own steadfastness.  This event changed him; he would not succeed.  Without spiritual stability, we will fail.

How can we remain stable?  There is no excuse.  Hebrews says which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. We have a sure hope in the Lord.  An anchor is a shaped piece of metal that when dropped into the water keeps the ship from floundering in the water.  It holds the ship steady.  Our anchor is Jesus Christ, and there is no failing in the Lord.  He is the solid rock.  It’s up to us to be attached to the anchor.

Are you tied to Jesus?  How well?  Our tie is our personal relationship with him.  We have an anchor, and we must stay attached to it.  It takes some effort on our part to be a person who continues on for the Lord.  It takes some decisiveness to choose right over wrong.  When we decide for Jesus, it keeps us stable.  It takes effort to be studied in the Word.  A lack of knowledge makes us forgetful hearers of the Word and liable to be deceived.  So much is thrown at us.  We need the Word to realize error from truth.  The Bible tells us we have to study to show ourselves approved unto God.  It takes effort to deny ourselves.  It’s a self-exalting world, but we have to put ourselves aside.  We have to be a regular Christian.  That means we practice it on a regular basis not occasionally.  Hebrews tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.  The Lord expects us to be faithful to his house.  He expects us to be faithful in service to him.  He wants us on the battlefield of service, on the front line.  He needs us there.  It takes all of us, not just a few to help this church.  Are you regular in prayer, in seeking the Lord, in shining your light?  If so, you won’t come unglued.

May it be never be said of any of us that we are unstable as water.  Do you want to win?  Do you want to enjoy church?  Enjoy a victorious life?  Be stable like the Lord made you to be.  Stick where God put you.  Let’s all pray for stability, and therefore succeed.