Serving the Lord Faithfully - I Samuel 2 - 4

Is there anything wrong with fishing or playing golf on Sunday? I will leave the answer to you. Should a Christian have a priority system by which he determines when, where and to what he dedicates his life? Our answer should be a resounding yes! Christians ultimately spend their time, money, energy and resources doing the things that mean the most to them. Some claim loyalty to God but their calendars [including the hours in the day] and their canceled checks betray a more worldly focus. Serving the Lord faithfully is a 24-7 commitment and it includes our work, rest and recreation, as well as our worship and praise time. There is a personal challenge in this lesson that is as relevant to us as it was to Samuel. We are to compare the selfish, wicked lives of Eli’s sons to the life that Samuel lived.

The first ten verses of chapter two is a lengthy prayer offered to God by a Godly mother, Hannah, who has kept her promise to God in exchange for His answered prayer. She was an older barren lady who prayed for a son and God heard her prayer. She promised God in her prayers that she would dedicate the son to Him, and now the time has arrived. She took Samuel when he was about three or four years old to Eli the priest, and left him at the temple to be trained in the priest hood.

This prayer praised God for his answer to her previous prayer for a son. It is a poetic prayer stating her complete confidence in God and thanking Him for what he will do through her son Samuel. This is a model prayer, in that Mary modeled her own praise song called the Magnificat after Hannah’s prayer. {It is important that you turn now to Luke 1: 46-56 and read and compare the prayers of these two ladies.}

Hannah and Mary were confident of God’s ultimate control over the events in their lives and they told him so in a meaningful way. This is a prime example for each one of us today. We must realize that God is in control over our lives and we must tell him so. He expects us to offer our prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings he affords us each day of our lives. We must make sure that our prayer life has a balance—first thanking God for what we have and will receive, and then intercessory pleas for others, as well as the requests we have for further blessings. Our ability to talk to God and know he is listening is one of our most precious gifts—and should never be neglected.

Hannah praised God for being a Rock, firm and strong and unchanging. Can you name me one other thing or person that can be described this way? We dedicate our lives to a profession only to find that circumstance change so severely that we are no longer happy or even feel needed. We dedicate our lives to achievements, causes, or possessions that have as their security that which is finite and changeable; here today and gone tomorrow. All of our plans fail because something unforeseen changes. We work our lives away for family, home, and possessions only to loose our love ones and see our possessions diminish. Only God remains always present, and our hope in him will never fail us. To Him is all the Glory. Be happy in Him only.

In chapter three the lord calls Samuel. Three times God spoke to Samuel while Samuel was young and unlearned, and he thought that it was Eli calling. And then Eli told him that the call was from God and that he should recognize His voice and let Him speak to him. The fourth time, Samuel answered God and told him he was listening. It appears to me that God would have spoken to Eli, because of his life experiences, work and dedication. There is too little time to explain all the reasons, but Eli had been faithful in every way except that he had allowed his sons to become his downfall; and he showed extreme weakness when he failed to discipline his sons for their terrible sins.

There are very few lessons in God’s word that are more explicit than this one that proclaims that parents are responsible for the beliefs and actions of their children. Parents are responsible for ascertaining the right way and practicing their beliefs and insisting that their offspring to follow them. Some may ask who these wicked sons were, and what did they do, to bring God’s judgment against Eli?

Eli was in his latter years and was high priest at Samuel’s birth; however according to Jewish law, he was not legally qualified to be a high priest. Even so, he had judged Israel for the last forty years. There is a genealogical table listed in 1 Chronicles that tells us that Eli was a descendant of Aaron, but not Eleazar, who was the oldest son, and therefore was not eligible to become high priest. He was what we might call a good hearted man, but was a weak leader. He must have desired to be a Godly ruler, and tried in his own way, but just did not have strong leadership ability. It seems almost unfair to say so, but a weak leader in a big job is in some ways a curse. America needs to remember this fact when they vote to elect the next President. Diplomats that are trying to rule fairly and well will tell you that a blunder {bad decision} is sometimes worse than a crime. At the time of this lesson Eli was 98 years old and almost blind.

Because of his age and blindness, Eli allowed his two sons Hophni and Phinehas to act for him. Some of their decisions actually degraded the worship of God. There were incriminating reports that came to Eli telling him about the infamous, non-Christian character and deeds of his Sons who were being allowed to degrade this holy office that belonged to God. Even though Eli knew about their sinful ways, he did not take a stand to prevent it from happening. The bible says that his only action was a weak statement—“My sons, it is not a good report that I hear about you” and that is all he said or did to them. God was not pleased with Eli’s weak response.

If you will study the last part of chapter two, beginning with verse 27, you can find that God sent a man who reprimanded Eli, and told him that his sons would both die on the same day, and that He would raise up a faithful priest who will do according to what is in the heart of God.

In Chapter 3, when God called Samuel the fourth time, He told Samuel what would happen to Eli and Samuel did not want to tell him. However, Eli insisted that Samuel tell him what the voice had told him. Samuel reluctantly told Eli what God had said. It could not have been a surprise, for he already knew God was unhappy with him. Eli accepted the message as being what God decided to do to him.

It is easy to see that though Samuel was only a young boy in training, this experience caused him to grow into a young man in authority in a very short time. Verses 19 through 21 state that Samuel grew up and people listened when he spoke. All through out Israel, from the north to the south, people understood and accepted Samuel as God’s new messenger to His people.

In my mind’s eye I can see the plight of Eli taking place in many of the homes in America today. Eli had spent his entire life in service to God. As high priest his responsibility was to oversee the worship in the country of Israel. He took the job seriously and proudly and spent all of his time dedicated to the task. He was a proud man and wanted to be successful—so much so that—he neglected the responsibilities he had in his own home and to these two boys that had not been disciplined to also live a dedicated life. This is a personal message to all fathers and grandfathers that tells you that you can not become so dedicated to your job, business, or profession that you neglect your responsibilities to your family. It even says to me and you that we cannot let our desire to do God’s work cause us to neglect our family. Eli did this very thing, and his family suffered the consequences of Eli’s neglect.

It is an interesting thought when we realize that Samuel grew up with Eli in charge of the tabernacle, which was a precedent of the Holy Temple. It had a room set aside where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. It was the Holy of Holies, and only the priest could enter once each year—just as it was to be later in the Temple. There was an area set aside where the priest lived. Samuel probably had a bedroom somewhere close by; it may have been only a few feet from the Ark, and he may have known of some of the desecration that was taking place there.

This reminds us that we are to be in the world but not a part of the world. We may live next door to a place where sin is taking place, but we do not have to be a part of it. Samuel, even though very young, lived near the sons of Eli and probably knew some of the sins they were committing, but he did not allow their ways to become his ways. As the title of this lesson charges each of us…WE ARE TO SERVE THE LORD FAITHFULLY.