Obedience brings blessing

 Jeremiah 35:1-19

Obedience brings blessing so one should not doubt that disobedience brings pain and suffering.  My dad often said to my brother Fred and me, I’ve warned you once, but you will not receive a second warning, you will accept the punishment for your actions.  May I assure you that was not timeout, it was not going to your room and giving thought to your actions, it was a belt used to adjust our attitude.

In the day that Jehoiakim was king of Judah the Lord spoke this message to Jeremiah; “Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers; then offer them wine to drink.”  What a beautiful thing to do and I’m sure it was not the house wine it was the best stuff.  Maybe there is more happening than is evident to us at this point; yes, God is about to show us what obedience is.

So Jeremiah who is God’s spokesperson does as instructed. “So I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites. I brought them to the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold. Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.” But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us.”

It makes me wonder what would the church look like if it had that kind of obedience?  Jaazaniah and his brothers, sons, and wives, and the entire house of the Rechabites were obedient to the words of Jonadab.  They were in Jerusalem seeking protection from the armies of the Babylonians. 

God reminds Jeremiah how often He had spoken to the people of Judah and Israel, and they had not listened, how He had sent all his servants and prophets with this message.  Turn from evil and obey, but they ran to the little gods, gods that could not see, nor hear.  But the sons of Rechab kept the commands of their father, but the people of God have not obeyed.

God is much more compassionate than my dad, we only got one warning, but God shows them compassion for He understood they were a stiff-necked people and slow to learn.  But payday came, God always keeps His word, and judgment day is coming.  It came for them, and a day is appointed for those who put faith in self and live as if God is not relevant.

But you may find this of interest. “But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab, your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you, therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man to stand before me.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice