…Jonadab son of Rechab shall never fail [to have] a man [descendant] to stand before Me. – Jeremiah 35:19, Amplified Bible (AMP)

You’ve been given a path in life to walk, and you know that the path is of God’s choosing. You are certain of the call. You follow it. But then something unsettling happens. Someone confronts you with a different path, and you have a decision before you: stay the course, or divert. The person offering the different path is a godly, trustworthy person, so you wonder if perhaps God has sent a messenger to change your direction.

What do you do?

Two hundred years before, Jonadab son of Rechab commanded his house to drink no wine. In Jeremiah 35, God instructed Jeremiah to tempt the Rechabites to change direction and to taste wine for the first time, but they towed the family line and politely refused. Through their obedience to a man long dead, God illustrated to the house of Israel how disobedient they had been to His commands.  By blessing the Rechabites for their obedience to their father, God also demonstrated how appreciative He is of people who stay His course, even when tempted to turn aside by a man of God.

There are indeed times when God sends messengers our way to point us in a new direction, but when He does so, the Holy Spirit will witness with our spirit to make it obvious that we are to follow the messenger. Following the messenger will be as peaceful and as compelling as Jesus’ call to the apostles to “Follow Me,” and there will be no doubt as to what we are to do. But when doubt is present at the call of the messenger, God has not sent the messenger to change our course; He has sent the messenger to test our obedience to His original command.

Once God has directed your steps in a particular way, turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Stay the course, especially when human reasoning – whether it be your own or someone else’s – contradicts God’s reasoning. When common sense collides with God’s sense, cling to God’s, and you’ll never go wrong.

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