Actively Listening

Jokes apart, the instructions that shape your life currently, who gave them to you? The decision you took concerning your job, business, academics, location, marriage, relationships and your general well being was based on whose instructions? Jeremiah 35:1-19 talks about a group of people called the Rechabites. The Lord told Jeremiah to go invite them into the Temple of God. Please do take note who gave the instructions and where they were invited to. They were brought to the Temple to the house of Igdaliah, who was a man of God; the Bible says he lived above the doorkeeper of the Temple. He was not an ordinary man in the business of God.  When the Rechabites came into the house in the Temple, wine was set before them as instructed by the Lord, they immediately went into a narration mode; telling how their ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab had told them not to drink wine or live in houses or cities. As a result, they rejected the wine God instructed them to drink and chose to obey their ancestor. The irony of their stand is that when they heard a rumor that war was coming; they abandoned their ancestor’s command and moved not only into the city but to equally live in houses that they had been forbidden to live in! The Lord acknowledged them for obeying their ancestor but faulted them for not heeding His instructions. God created their father but they put his word above that of the Lord’s; they equally feared the enemy more than their ancestor. One would conclude that they had a general disregard for God. They were indeed foolish and hypocritical. How come they did not maintain their stand when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar came since their father’s word was greater than that of God? So many times God had given us further instructions that go against earlier instructions that may have been given to us by Him or His servants, but His children refuse to obey holding on to earlier instructions to their peril. God that had seen what was on ground and your resources had chosen to give you further instructions, but you chose to go with the earlier one! As a result you are facing unwarranted regrets and failed ventures. The judgment of God on this issue was that the Rechabites were destroyed with the inhabitants of Jerusalem whilst their father was eternally rewarded. Several are walking in the instructions that their fathers , pastors, mentors had given them, which is good; But God had come and is still coming to them as He did to the Rechabites to give them further instructions but they have refused to listen, thus they are in a quagmire concerning their jobs, marriages, relationships and general well being. Maybe the present instructions are not convenient, friend you forget that man from the beginning was packaged to actively listen to and carry out the instructions of God. Thank God that Abraham was actively listening to God or he would have sacrificed his son which would have been a grievous sin in the sight of God. Finally friend, before this year comes to an end, what are the instructions the Lord had given you that you have filed away because they go against an earlier instruction you had received? The Lord would want you to recall them and carry them out and watch what He would do in your life in return before the end of the year if He tarries! The grace to carry them out is released to you in Jesus Christ name.