THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN: A THIRSTING PEOPLE

06/16/2023

"Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, according to their families, were... Ophni..." (Joshua 18:21,24).

For the Church to fulfill its destiny of rulership in any and every sphere of life, we must be a thirsting people. As we have been exploring through the devotional from the past week, we have established that Benjamin or the tribe of Benjamin are a foreshadowing of the Church. The design and destiny of Benjamin, as prophesied by his father, Jacob, is so tied to the destiny of the Church that if we simply grasp it, members of the Church will only know victory in every and any endeavor. Genesis 49:27 captures this divine design and destiny as follows, "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he shall devour the prey, And at night he shall divide the spoil." This implies that the Church has been destined to rule in the physical, metaphysical, and spiritual realms. 

In the fulfillment of this destiny, however, the Church will have to embody certain qualities metaphorically represented in the Bible as "the cities of the tribe of Benjamin." Now, over the past week, we have dug deep to discover the meaning of ten of the twelve cities of the tribe of Benjamin as they relate to what we must embody to be the victorious church of the Father's dream. 

The eleventh city, Ophni, for the Hebrew language, implies that we must be a thirsting people to be the powerhouse we were called to be. So, what does it mean to be a thirsting person? The Psalmist says, "O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory" (Psalm 63:1-2). It means to be so obsessed with God that you are in an ever-constant search mode for Him through study, worship, and fellowship with other believers. God consumes your thoughts to the point that you lose every other frame of reference. 

Ophni implies a weariness that only Jehovah can satisfy. So Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). Saint of God, it is your calling to inhabit Ophni and be so consumed by the zeal of the Lord that even some of your brethren would start to label you, "deep." Psalm 69:8-9 says, "I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother's children; Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me." 

There is a heart cry from God for His people to become obsessed with Him. Meditate on today's devotional and speak in other tongues afterwards. 

Have an excellent day!

Faith-Filled Confession 

I thirst for you, Lord, in a dry and thirsty land to see your power and your glory. Your zeal consumes me, and my hunger is satisfied by your Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

 One-Year Reading Plan: Ezra 9-10; Acts 1