The Rechabites

November 5
I just read the story of the Rechabites for about the 350th time. It struck me this morning, as I read it, just how much God honored the children of Rechab, who did exactly as their father instructed them, though what he had instructed them was not, in any way, a requirement demanded in scripture. Their father’s instruction was really quite strange, yet they obeyed it to the letter. He told them to drink no wine, neither them nor their sons forever; they were not allowed to build a house, but were commanded to live in tents; they were not allowed to sow seed or plant a vineyard. The reason God told Jeremiah to bring in Rechab’s children and offer them wine was that they were to be a sign to Israel. After they refused to drink the wine Jeremiah offered them, God told Jeremiah to go the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and compare the unwavering, meticulous obedience of Rechab’s children to their complete disobedience.

Over and again Jeremiah was sent to the leaders, the governors, the priests, the Levites, the kings, and the prophets of all Israel. He was sent by God to tell them to stop listening to the false prophets and liars who were speaking peace to them when there would be no peace. Israel’s prophets were speaking the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel to God’s chosen people. God told Jeremiah to tell the leaders, the inhabitants, the priests, the governors, and anyone who would listen to stop listening to the liars who came to them claiming to speak in His behalf. He demanded they return to complete obedience to His word as the son’s of Rechab had been completely obedient to their father’s words. He warned them the time was coming when He would no longer listen to them if they didn’t respond quickly and decisively.

Today America is in the same general state of apathy and disobedience to God’s word as was Israel when Jeremiah spoke. God has blessed this nation beyond what any have a right to expect. It is not the modern day Israel as some false prophets would suggest. However, it is a land whose blessing has come because it began with at least an attempt at honoring God above individual greed and dishonesty. Of course, capitalism promotes greed. I’m making no attempt here to justify or glorify an economic system that does such things. That’s a subject for another devotional all together. For today, the point is that we, as a nation, have ceased to honor the God who has so blessed us. We have begun listening to the false prophets who tell us we must be tolerant of those who worship idols, those who live alternative lifestyles (homosexuals and lesbians), those who clearly are our enemies as well as enemies of God. He did not, for example, ever speak to Mohamed. Mohamed was a liar and false prophet. Islam is not a religion of peace, and our tolerance of it is a direct affront to God.

God is not tolerant of homosexuals. He tells them to repent or die and go to an eternity in hell. God is not tolerant of corrupt government representatives. Our Congressmen are a disgrace to the will and purposes of God for this country. It is also a direct affront to God to elect men to office because they are conservatives. God doesn’t care what their political views are; He cares only whether or not they intend to honor Him and His word as they lead this country. We’re so caught up in our sin in this country we can’t begin to hear His voice as He speaks through His servants. And, we have so few of His servants speaking, not many actually hear the message He has for this country. God is not tolerant of liars, murderers, thieves, kidnappers, drunks, adulterers, and fornicators. He is not tolerant of corrupt judges who do not administer justice. Our land cries out in agony for the many who have been killed and maimed by the drunk who got behind the wheel of an automobile and killed someone completely innocent of his sin. It cries out for the many who have died at the hands of wicked men who rape our women and abuse our children. It cries out for the kidnappers who steal away the poor and helpless and demand a ransom for their return and then kill them. It cries out for the millions of children who never see the light of day because the whores who get pregnant murder them while they’re still in their womb.

I have approximately 100 friends on Face Book. Out of that one hundred people, one or two care enough to navigate to this devotional and read it daily, yet, each day I bring a word from God to any who will bother to take the time out of their busy, ungodly, lives to read them. Be forewarned, God is weary of the lying prophets who claim to speak in His name when He has not sent them. He is weary of the great multitudes in this country who have time to work 15-20 hours a day, revel in the darkness, drink themselves into oblivion, commit adultery, live together out of wedlock (fornication), bear bastard children, bow to the gods of the forest, the deer, antelope, elk, and moose, bow to the gods of the NFL, the NHL, the NBA and the dozens of other professional and amateur sports that consume massive amounts of time that could better have been spent speaking to God in prayer, reading His word, and allowing Him to respond.

God has spoken; we are not listening. God has spoken, and He is about to bring America to its knees just as he did Israel (the Northern Kingdom, Judah, and all Jerusalem) 2700 years ago. Soon, He will say to those He has sent to warn America, “Speak no more to me on behalf of this people. I am weary of their lies and abominations. I am weary of the false prophets who say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord,’ when I have not sent them nor given them words to speak, who speak to them of peace when there is no peace. I am about to bring war, famine, pestilence, and utter destruction upon this people who ignore those I have sent to warn them time and again. I will utterly destroy them, utterly destroy them; they will go down to the pit to rise no more.” And that is God’s word for us today.