What God Can Do With Your Worst Quality

In Genesis 49, Jacob shares his last blessing with his youngest son Benjamin. The son born to him at his wife's death at his old age. Here's what he says about Benjamin's tribe:

Genesis 49:27 (ESV) “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.”

The tribe of Benjamin's blessing is odd in comparison to the character trait Benjamin the boy possessed in the Genesis narrative. In fact, all we've seen of Benjamin is passivity throughout the entire drama that has played out between his maternal brother (Joseph) and paternal brothers (10) of jealousy and rage. Benjamin hasn't even said a word. But Jacob's blessing is going to play out in Benjamin's tribe in surprising accuracy.

The tribe of Benjamin does become ravenous and wild. The accounts of the book of Judges reveal a hedonism and disregard for human life that would shock any society (see Judges 19). Benjamin would produce the arrogant and pompous Saul who refused correction and fought his own battles at the expense of his kingship. Saul spent his last years hunting down David and destroying his legacy.

But perhaps the most notable member for Christians from the tribe of Benjamin is the New Testament's Saul (we know as Paul) who held the coats of men who stoned the first Christian martyr Steven. From there, fulfilling Jacob's words with in accurate precision concerning the Benjaminites, Paul "breathed out threats" against the Church in Acts 8 having set out to destroy this entire movement.

Yet this passionate quality in the life of Paul would be redirected by Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. As he was chasing Christians (his prey) on the way to Damascus, Jesus turned Paul around and he would spend the rest of his life chasing a new mission of Christian evangelism with unflinching resolve.

Paul is a clear example that God can take our worst qualities and use them for his good.

What is absolutely stunning is how the Old Testament predicted this for Benjamin's tribe long before Paul ever showed up. When Moses pronounces his own blessings on the tribes in Deuteronomy, this is what he says about Benjamin:
Deuteronomy 33:12 (ESV) Of Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”

It's amazing how you don't see this reality play out in Benjamin's tribe until Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit (God dwelling between his shoulders). Today, almost every Gentile Christian owes a debt of gratitude to the sacrificial missionary work of this member of the tribe of Benjamin. That's what God can do with bad characters bent on destruction. He can take that tenacious ravenous attitude and leverage it for the work of His kingdom. He's done that with countless antagonists of Christianity who set out to discredit the scriptures only to meet Christ and become agents of His work (see Josh McDowell, C. S. Lewis, and Lee Strobel). 

What could God do with your worst characteristic transformed and empowered by the Holy Spirit?