The Recabites

The Recabites... ever heard of 'em? Yeah, me neither until the other day. I did something that I don't do very often. I simply opened my Bible and just read wherever I opened it and I came upon the Recabites. They are an old testament group of folks in Jeremiah 35 that God used as an example to the people of Israel.

You see they had an ancestor that gave them some commands from God and he said that if they would simply follow what he told them they would live long good lives in the land they were in. The people of Israel have  not been listening to God and have been going off doing as they please. God has Jeremiah go and let the people of Israel know that he is not happy with them because they have not been doing what God told them to do over and over again.

This little story got me to thinking about how important it is to have people in your life that are speaking truth into you. Telling you things that are going to help you have a full life worth living. Things that point you to God. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the countless people that God has given me the opportunity to hear from. Some for just a talk or an encounter and some for many years. It is not enough though to just have them in your life, we need to follow the example of the Recabites and heed their advice and be open to what they have to say to us.

It also gave me a different kind of encouragement. For a few weeks now I have been meeting one time a week with Ryan and Matthew and going through a Bible study in the back of my FCA Bible called, "Starting Line". It is allowing me to pour into the boys as they begin to grow. To stop one time a week and purposely look at God's word together (we probably spend half our time just looking up verses, but that is just fine), see what our need is and what he has done to fill that need and then see what that means going forward as they live out life as 2nd and 5th graders at Orchard park and in our neighborhood.  It has been really fun. This morning Matthew had to be excused because he simply could not stop laughing after Ryan was reading in Hebrews and stated that there is no longer any difference between Jew and Geek! Of course he meant to say Greek, but it was too late once it came out.

I am not sure that I would recommend just opening the Bible and starting to read, but the story about the Recabites made a great impression on me. It reminded me about the importance of listening to those that have gone before us and can speak wisdom into our lives through their actions and words and then turning around and sharing the truths of God's word and what he has done in our lives to the next generation so that they might live a long good life in the land.