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Not only does God’s Word teach us how to live, but it also gives us examples of men and women who actually lived such lives. The faithfulness of the Rechabites had been continuing for generations and generations.
If the Lord tarries for another 300 years, may he find our children and our children’s, children standing firm. It is believed that you can find descendants of the Rechabites in the Middle East today.
We kind of have to put pieces into the puzzle of the Rechabites to get a picture of their history. Jehu had just been anointed king, he was cleansing Israel of Baal worship. Jonadab was a shepherd, and there was a good possibility that he had brought his sheep to Samaria to sheer his sheep. According to 2 Kings, there is a good possibility that Jehu and Jonadab knew each other. It almost sounds like they were peers… they went together to Samaria to work on the cleansing of Baal worship.
A good definition for “vision” is “giving the future our immediate attention.” Jonadab understood that if he was going to do something for his future and that of his family, he needed to do something to make a difference. Jonadab returned to his family and draws some lines for his home and his family.
Lets look at some of these things as they would relate to us and our families.
- Drink no wine – Not drinking wine was not something that the Lord had commanded them not to do. This was a principle that was higher than just not drinking wine. The principle here is self discipline. It is important to live lives if self discipline if we’re going to pass our faith on to our children.
- Don’t plant vineyards – Again this is not something that the Lord had commanded them not to do. The principle here is integrity if you don’t drink wine don’t produce it for other people to drink. How can we pass faith to the next generation if there isn’t integrity?
- Don’t build houses, live in tents – The principle here is simplicity of life. Let us remember that we are only strangers and pilgrims in this life, we are on a journey. Don’t allow your roots to get so deep that we can’t say “yes Lord, I’ll do that” when He calls us elsewhere.
- Sow no seed – Again, there is nothing wrong with sowing seed. The principle here is simply that there must be time for family togetherness. The shepherds were out on the hillsides herding their sheep, they interacted and worked together as a family. Somehow we must have time together if faith is to be passed on.
Be encouraged that God has a plan for your family. Spend time with your children, raise them for the Lord.
Scriptures used – Matthew 28, Psalm 78, Jeremiah 35, 2 Kings 10