May the mumbling commence!
Sometimes, God uses people who are not currently in the
family of God as examples of faithfulness to the people who are supposed to be
God’s children. This is the case with
the Recabites from Jeremiah chapter thirty-five:
I set cups and jugs of wine before them and invited them
to have a drink, but they refused. "No," they said. "We don't
drink wine, because Jehonadab son of
Recab, our ancestor, gave us this command: 'You and your descendants must never
drink wine. And do not build houses or
plant crops or vineyards, but always live in tents. If you follow these
commands, you will live long, good lives in the land.'
So we
have obeyed him in all these things. We have never had a drink of wine since then, nor have our wives, our sons,
or our daughters. We haven't built houses or owned vineyards or
farms or planted crops. We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed
all the commands of Jehonadab, our ancestor.
But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
arrived in this country, we were afraid of the Babylonian and Aramean armies.
So we decided to move to Jerusalem. That is why we are here."
Then the Lord
gave this message to Jeremiah: "The Lord
Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and say to the people in Judah and
Jerusalem, 'Come
and learn a lesson about how to obey me.
The Recabites do not drink wine because their ancestor Jehonadab told them
not to. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you refuse to listen or obey. I have sent you prophet after prophet to tell
you to turn from your wicked ways and to stop worshiping other gods, so that
you might live in peace here in the land I gave to you and your ancestors. But you would not listen to me or obey.
The families of Recab have obeyed their
ancestor completely, but you have refused to listen to me.' (Verses
5-16)
Listen and obey – they are key ingredients to
faithfulness. The Recabites did listen
and obey the commands of their ancestor.
Judah did not listen or obey the commands of the Lord. It’s pretty simple and straight forward.
I bet it hurt to see people outside the fold being used
as positive examples for those who should know better. It makes me think of the exchange between
Jesus and the Gentile woman from Matthew chapter fifteen:
Jesus then left Galilee and went north to the region of
Tyre and Sidon. A Gentile woman who
lived there came to him, pleading, "Have mercy
on me, O Lord, Son of David! For
my daughter has a demon in her, and
it is severely tormenting her."
But Jesus gave her no reply – not even a word. Then his
disciples urged him to send her away. "Tell her
to leave," they said. "She is bothering
us with all her begging."
Then he said to the woman, "I was sent only to help the people of Israel – God's lost sheep – not the Gentiles."
But she came and worshiped him and pleaded again, "Lord, help
me!"
"It isn't right to take food from the
children and throw it to the dogs," he said.
"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even dogs are permitted to eat crumbs
that fall beneath their master's table."
"Woman," Jesus said to her, "your faith is
great. Your request is granted." And
her daughter was instantly healed. (Verses 21-28)
What faith in someone who was not a child of
Israel! She recognized Jesus as the Son
of David. She recognized his power to
heal. She recognized that he was worthy
of worship. And she was ready to live
off the crumbs of Jesus’ power to heal her daughter.
Jesus noted her great faith and healed her daughter. May our faith be as persistent and great!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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