By Joy Victor Osazuwa
Before I get into this one, let me give you a background to this series.
I was ministering at a program last Friday.
It was an all-night service.
I ministered from that passage, and after I finished ministering, the message did not stop.
It was just like a part two of the sermon.
But this time, it was just me
I picked up my Bible and God showed me Benjamin.
I started crying
I was screaming
I was jumping.
That revelation did something to me.
I got home after the all-night and couldn’t sleep.
My soul was elated.
God was giving me a message for a people.
A people who are drowning in pains.
A people who are depressed
A people who are sorrowful.
Men and women who have been betrayed.
Not by strangers, but by those they loved.
People who are hurting
Whose heart can no longer hold the pains of loss.
He opened my eyes, I saw them.
Men and women.
Bound by chains
Not chains of sins and lust
But chains of betrayal and loss.
And He told me to write.
I picked up my phone and started typing.
When I got to where I stopped, He told me that’s part one, stop there for now.
I don’t have any drafts for my posts.
They are spontaneous.
Commanded, just as he’s speaking.
And going through the comments on that post, plus the over 1,000 followers that it brought, I now understand why I couldn’t sleep until I had written it.
NOW THE PART TWO.
Genesis chapter 35 verse 18.
“As she breathed her last – for she was dying -she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.”
Benjamin came through a hard and laborious process.
Benjamin was a picture of pains, the pains of wasted years.
Benjamin was the beginning of an end.
A child who ended his mother’s life.
He wasn’t supposed to live
Or at least to have a good life.
He wasn’t supposed to prosper.
He wasn’t supposed to achieve anything good in life.
Rachel had cursed him in her last breath
With a name that meant “Sorrow”
Rachel couldn’t see beyond the pains
She couldn’t see beyond the suffering.
She couldn’t see beyond the hurt.
So she named her manifestation sorrowful.
She named him Ben-Oni, meaning sorrowful.
Like Rachel, many people have named their situations according to how they feel.
You’ve looked at your child, and because of the circumstances surrounding the child’s birth, you’ve said things that you were not supposed to say to that child.
It’s common to see single mothers or wives of irresponsible men, abuse their children and called them all sorts of names.
You hear things like…
“You bastard
Good for nothing son of a useless father.
You’re as useless as your father
I don’t know why you came into my womb
Why did I even give birth to you?
You should have died in the womb”
Etc.
It’s difficult to speak positively in the midst of pain.
But it’s dangerous to speak carelessly because you’re going through pains.
You look at the years you’ve invested trying to build a business, a career, serving someone, loving the wrong person, and you’re tempted to call it a waste, but no, don’t, it isn’t.
Rachel was waiting for the day when she would finally cuddle her bundle up joy.
She had gone through 9 months of discomfort, but when it was time to reap her fast, her life was snatched out of her, and when she saw that she was dying, she cursed the child with a name.
But thank God for Jacob.
The father of Benjamin.
He knew that pains birth purpose
He knew that today doesn’t define tomorrow.
He refused to allow the words of a dying woman prevail over a living child.
And that’s a lesson
Never let the words of a dying person prevail over your destiny.
When the child was too young to even understand what was going on, God gave him a father who spoke his destiny and aligned it with the purpose of God.
Jacob named him Benjamin, which means
“The son of my right hand”
The right hand is symbolic.
It represents strength
It is a symbol of authority and rulership
It signifies kingship
It is heirloom.
A successor
You will not appreciate the name that Jacob gave to the child unless you examine his life and lineage.
In Genesis chapter 49 verse 27
Jacob described Benjamin as a ravenous wolf. That devours prey in the morning and divides plunder at night.
Benjamin grew to become a fierce elite warrior.
The tribe of Benjamin was renowned for military prowess. They produced skills and often left handed archers and slingers.
According to Judges chapter 20 verse 16,
The tribe of Benjamin was known for extraordinary martial skills, particularly in archery and slinging stones with great precision.
They had warriors who could sling a stone at an hair and not miss it. Now pause and think about this.
Ehud, the left-handed warrior who slaughtered Eglon, the wicked king of Moab, and delivered the children of Israel from an 18 year captivity, was a descendant to Benjamin.
(Judges 3:15).
King Saul, Israel’s first King, known for his extraordinary skills in warfronts and leadership, was from the tribe of Benjamin.
That is what was enveloped in that child that brought so much pain.
So before you curse the child, think of his/her prophetic destiny.
Out of every dying Rachel is a great warrior.
Out of every Failed relationship, marriage, business, investment, there is a prophetic seed of greatness.
It is our responsibility to look beyond what is death
Look beyond your Rachel, and lay hold of Benjamin.
Move on with Benjamin
Benjamin was everything that Rachel couldn’t become.
Benjamin was the consolation that God gave to Jacob.
For your loss
For your pains
For your betrayal
For those accusations
For those disappointments
For those delays
For those miscarriages
For those rejections….
God is giving you a Benjamin.
The one that will comfort you.
The one that would make the years of your sacrifices worth it.
Don’t give up.
Benjamin is here.
