Jeremiah and the Rechabites

Jeremiah and the Rechabites - by Bryan Ellis

When reading the Bible we can easily cover the history books and the gospels because of their compelling narrative.  We can read the poetic books because of their pithy nature and mostly short chapters. We can handle some of the prophets like Daniel because of the stories that are included.  We can grasp the epistles because they are short.  But many of us have difficulty mucking our way through the vast amount of prophecy.  While skimming through we can miss stories that have a great meaning like the one discussed here.

Back in the time of the Divided Kingdom a prophet told Jehu that he would destroy Ahab’s household because of their evil.  While going about this work he found Jehonadab (Jonadab) the son of Rechab – a Kenite.  Jehonadab went with Jehu and helped him finish off the house of Ahab as the Lord had commanded.  This story is in 2 Kings 10 which chronicles events around the year 840 BC.  The Kenites were a group of non-Israelites who went with the Israelites from Egypt and into the Promised Land.  While most lived in cities among the Jews, Jehonadab commanded his family to live a nomadic life and to abstain from wine.

Fast forward to the end of the kingdom of Judah when Jeremiah is prophesying to the Jews about obedience to God and submission to His punishment.  Jeremiah is told (Jeremiah 35) to find the Rechabites and bring them into the house of the Lord.  He was told to make them drink wine.  This is around the year 600 BC during Zedekiah’s reign.  The Rechabites, though faithful to go with Jeremiah, refused to drink wine because of their father’s commandment.  God praises them for this in that they would not forsake the law of their father even hundreds of years later.

Remember that Gentiles were still under patriarchal rule until Pentecost.  Obeying their father’s commands was paramount.  The Rechabites held their father’s words as law in their lives and strictly obeyed them.  God is making a comparison to how His children had gone after other gods and had disobeyed His covenant and continued to rebel even though they had been given His love, mercy, and grace.  God had spoken through Moses and the prophets, had confirmed His word by miracles, had punished the northern kingdom with the Assyrians, had blessed the Jews, had chosen them as His people, and still the children of Israel rebelled against Him.

Today we need to follow what God has said.  Not because our fathers tell us to, not because of tradition handed down by men, but because He is our Creator, our Lord, and our God.  God’s word has not changed.  Just as the Rechabites held fast to their father’s instructions – though hundreds of years had passed, times had changed, and he was just a man – God expects us to keep His Word in our hearts and obey Him regardless of external forces and changes.  After all, He is not just a man.  He has accurately predicted the future and made prophecy into reality hundreds of times.  He has the ability to make a timeless law that can stand until the world ends without the need for constant tweaking to fit the current societal norms.  Jesus said in Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away”.

2 Boards , 3 Nails.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a masterpiece of modern engineering. It is a 1.7 mile expanse of steel, wire, and rivets, spanning the gap between the city of San Francisco and neighboring Marin County across the bay. The Golden Gate Bridge celebrated its 75th anniversary.

Taking four years to complete, construction began on January 5, 1933. The bridge opened to pedestrians on May 27, 1937, and to cars the next day.

It took 83,000 tons of steel, nearly 60,000 strands of wire (which, if stretched out, would measure nearly 80,000 miles!), and more than 600,000 rivets in each of the towers to build it.

According to Daniel Mohn, the bridge’s former chief engineer who co-authored a book about the span, one of the bridge’s original designers said on opening day in 1937, `I present to you a bridge that will last forever.’

Application:

83,000 tons of steel and 80,000 miles of wire masterfully engineered to span a gap of 1.7 miles is an impressive feat, to say the least. But more impressive still is the infinite gap between a holy God and sinful man that was spanned with only two boards and three nails. A bridge that TRULY , will last forever.

“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12).

Something to think about…

The invitation to study the bible is STILL open…. 

Windows…

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
(1 Samuel 16:7 ESV)

The human eye is incredible. The fact that there are actually 2 of them working together for the same purpose yet independently of each other is even more so…If you take in to account all the sequences that are firing off at this instant while you read this , it’s just plain staggering… There is no question ,given the complexity of these organs that they were carefully created with much thought and care.. They are often called “The Windows to the Soul”..

But for all their grandeur , they are still limited as to what they can do..

You will never be able to see your own face with the exception of the tip of your nose without the aid of a reflection..nor the back or top of your head ,with out the aid of some sort of reflection or mirror..I think we all would agree that we don’t leave the house to go anywhere without first checking our reflection first..but have you ever considered what it is we are checking?

You see we have set a standard in our minds that we check against, and depending on how the reflection looks we make adjustments – in other words we are looking for flaws… And when we find them, we make the corrections to our satisfaction and then we go about our business but regularly taking advantage of any reflective surface we pass – to just “be sure” that everything is still in check…

With all of our care and personal honesty we attack the flaws in mirror with conviction..yet what do we do about the inside?…how do our eyes see in there?… This is another limitation to the eye- it can’t look inward without a reflective surface…

So have you ever looked intently into a mirror…into your own eyes? Even then ,you can’t see whats in your heart… you can’t see the side of your self that no one else knows.. But God does – after all , if he put that much CARE into your EYES , how much more then did he for your SOUL?…

He created it.. He gave us his words to nourish it… and when we have broken it , he gave us his son to SAVE it…

Would he not also give us a way to CARE for it?.. A mirror of sorts to check for the flaws and make adjustments?… A standard to set our minds on?…. yet for many , that standard sits on a shelf and NEVER gets looked into…For all the beauty we take in with our eyes, nothing compares to the beauty and majesty The God who created us…The very least we can do is look in his book written for us so that we can come to know him. By this and this alone, we can then know ourselves and see our TRUE reflection..

For all of our complexity and beauty – we are flawed and fragile creatures…If eye sight is considered to be the most valued of the senses , how much more then is the soul and the ability to look inside and see your own – and be CONTENT with what you SEE?

The invitation to study is still open…

Read Psalm 139 ,all verses.

Do it – it will be worth it .

Some Random Thoughts on Peace

Peace ,Perfect Peace… Some random thoughts on Peace

Peace , perfect Peace…

The Personnel Journal reported this incredible statistic: since the beginning of recorded history, the entire world has been at peace less than eight percent of the time! In its study, the periodical discovered that of 3530 years of recorded history, only 286 years saw peace. Moreover, in excess of 8000 peace treaties were made–and broken.

True peace..complete and perfect , can only come from one source – its Author… Our Creator.

This time of year the phrase ” Peace on Earth and Good Will towards all Men” is used quite a bit (although not as much as it used to be). Taken from Luke 2:14 , it is meant to be used as a sentiment of gesture , implying that we should all be peaceable towards each other… While I don’t disagree with the sentiment , that’s not actually what the scripture says. Its says “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”…

Who exactly is he pleased with? – Those who love him…those who obey him… Those who TRULY try to know him…

The truth is , the peace that is being talked about here is not that of war between men ,but peace between a disobedient creation and its creator. Being reconciled to God through faith ,love and obedience to his word can one only REALLY ever experience TRUE peace…

I for one , can testify to this truth.

Even then , the peace that we have through God doesn’t ensure us a pain-free life ,but rather one of testing.Peace is not a life without trial ,but rather the quiet place you find among the noise … safety in the midst of harm…. Comfort in the throes of utter turmoil and anguish….Peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always.

I had read a short story of a man who sought the perfect picture of peace. Not finding one that satisfied, he announced a contest to produce this masterpiece. The challenge stirred the imagination of artists everywhere, and paintings arrived from far and wide. Finally the great day of revelation arrived. The judges uncovered one peaceful scene after another, while the viewers clapped and cheered.

The tensions grew. Only two pictures remained veiled.

As a judge pulled the cover from one, a hush fell over the crowd.

A mirror-smooth lake reflected lacy, green birches under the soft blush of the evening sky. Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed. Surely this was the winner.

The man with the vision uncovered the second painting himself, and the crowd gasped in surprise. Could this be peace?

A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky precipice; the crowd could almost feel its cold, penetrating spray. Stormy-gray clouds threatened to explode with lightning, wind and rain. In the midst of the thundering noises and bitter chill, a spindly tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls. One of its branches reached out in front of the torrential waters as if foolishly seeking to experience its full power.

A little bird had built a nest in the elbow of that branch. Content and undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, she rested on her eggs.

With her eyes closed she spread her wings to cover her little ones…

She manifested peace in a place where there was none… A Peace that transcends all earthly turmoil. …True peace.. Because safety consists not in the absence of danger but in the presence of God.
We are living in dark times .. and dark times don’t require dark measures ,but rather – The Light ….I’ll end this with the poem that inspired this thought tonight ,in hope that it will leave you with the same “Light” it left me..
” I rest beneath the Almighty’s shade,
My griefs expire, my troubles cease;
Thou, Lord, on whom my soul is stayed,
Wilt keep me still in perfect peace.”
- Charles Wesley.

Running on Empty

It is staggering to think about , but it’s everywhere… The amount we ,  as a people  , consume on a daily basis. I’m not just relegating this to food ,although it certainly lends itself to that and Americas obesity issues – but just in general , we as a people can’t seem to find contentment until we are literally busting at the seams…and to our dismay – still unfulfilled.

My first reaction, like most would be , is disgust…this graduates to irritation and then the most common reaction – Apathy , the unwillingness to care…But with apathy also comes  silence , and in that silence I hear something else…however faint , I hear a cry for SOMETHING.. So my apathy changes to sympathy , and then to interest… This then graduates to caring and now I AM ALL IN..

So I listen harder…

In the feeding of our over active appetite to fill ourselves , we completely ignore that real problem - We just can’t seem to ever be really FULL – … But why ?… Why can’t we be filled by all this stuff? Why do we constantly crave and consume MORE and still wind up EMPTY?

Why?

…and THAT’S what I hear.. I silent cry of “why?”.. “Why do I have everything my heart desires and yet I am STILL so unhappy”..

Maybe , your heart is desiring the wrong things? Maybe , YOUR conscience is trying to tell you something that YOU don’t want to hear? Maybe , just maybe  … you KNOW what is right,but are not willing to do it because of what it will COST you????

Speaking from personal experience – NOTHING will cost you MORE in your life than SELFISHNESS.. I can’t think of ONE good thing that the sin of selfishness EVER brought me – not ONE thing…

Don’t allow another moment to be stolen from you – break the cycle…

Empty yourself of YOURSELF …and fill it with the ONLY thing that wont leave you EMPTY.. ,but still desiring MORE of it -
The LOVE of GOD..

Matthew 5:6 says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” …

Only in Christ will you ever be full…Only in Christ will you ever be satisfied… –  Because only in Christ can you be truly Justified  and Sanctified (1 Corinthians 6:11)

The Lord beckons you all to come and be filled … won’t you?

If not , WHY NOT?

The invitation to study the bible is still open.. 

read Hebrews 13:1-19

Big Rocks, little rocks and Falling Sky

Big Rocks, little rocks and the Falling Sky

While the whole world looked to the skies in anticipation of asteroid 2012 DA124 (nearly the size of a football field) reportedly on course to make a 17,000 mile “near miss” fly-by of our planet, an unobserved meteor of much lesser mass (approximately 10 tons, and only about the size of an SUV), slipped through the atmosphere at 33,000 mph and exploded in the skies above Chelyabinsk, Russia.

The blast had the force of a nuclear explosion, and injured more than a 1000 people. Most of the injured were struck by shattered glass as the sonic boom and ensuing shock wave imploded windows in some 3,000 buildings, exposing residents to the bitter cold as temperatures in the city were only in the teens.

So why didn’t anybody see it coming? “‘Apparently, size matters,’ explained Andrew Cheng of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. … That’s relatively small compared with asteroid 2012 DA14, which will make the closest recorded pass of an asteroid to the Earth — about 17,150 miles — later today [2/15/13].”

NASA’s Near Earth Object Program tracks thousands of larger asteroids, but “countless smaller ones” go undetected. “If you think about objects the size of the one that came into Russia, you’re probably looking at 100 million up there,” said K.T. Ramesh, professor science and engineering at John’s Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.

Application?

While everyone was looking at the elephant in the room–asteroid 2012 DA14–they all failed to see the much smaller, but clearly powerful and damaging meteor that slipped in undetected.

Our sin consciousness operates much the same way. While we are diligently (and proudly) monitoring our lives for the “big” offenses like murder, theft, adultery, etc., countless other more subtle sins (envy, jealousy, lust, deception, anger, bitterness, etc., etc., etc.) have slipped under our radar and are daily wrecking havoc on our lives. And when we least expect it, BOOM! Our world implodes, and we naïvely say to ourselves, “Where did THAT come from?”

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

(Matthew 5:21-26 ESV)