Hello,

Mandy has been in Phoenix for a couple of days and I’ve been taking care of the kids. Lizzy spends most of the day at school, but the two boys are quite a handful. They are always hungry, they have an uncanny ability to disperse toys all across the house, and they often play rough with each other. (Just this morning, they were eating yogurt and I told them, “Don’t make a mess.” As I was walking down to the basement, Luke yelled out, “Daddy! You mean don’t make a mess like this?” I kept on walking.) I am very grateful for my two boys. While Jake and Luke can cause me frustration, I consider them very valuable. They have great worth to me. I want to tell you a story about two sons who were worthless.

Many of us remember the story of Samuel, a boy who was promised to the Lord by his mother, Hannah. We read about him in the book of 1 Samuel. Hannah promised God that she would give Samuel to serve Him and she fulfilled her promise. When Samuel was about two or three years old, his mother took him to the tabernacle where he would serve for the rest of his life. Eli was the priest at the time, as were his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. In 1 Samuel 2:12, we read, “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men.” The Bible goes on to explain how these two boys were evil: they stole meat for themselves from the sacrifices to God, they also took raw meat instead of the cooked meat they were allotted, and they had sex with the women who served at the tabernacle. 1 Samuel 2:12 continues, “They did not know the Lord.”

The part of the story we usually remember is when God speaks directly to Samuel during the night. The Lord calls out, “Samuel” and Samuel thinks Eli is calling him. This happens three times, each time Samuel runs to Eli thinking he has called him. The third time Eli tells Samuel that it is God calling him and to respond to Him. Samuel obeys. The interesting thing to me is that we never remember what God actually says to Samuel. This is what God said to Samuel that night (1 Samuel 3:11-14):

11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

God was clearly angry at Eli for not taking care of his sons. Eli was previously warned of their behavior (1 Samuel 2:27-36) and had tried rebuking his sons (1 Samuel 2:22-25). The law called for blasphemers to be stoned to death (Leviticus 24:16) not merely rebuked. We have some clear lessons to learn here about raising up our children (both physical children and spiritual children) in the correct ways, about disciplining our children, and about being faithful to God. But what impresses me most about Eli is his attitude about this situation.

The next morning, Eli calls Samuel (who was afraid to tell him about the vision) and asks him what God had said. Samuel “told him everything and hid nothing from him.” And in verse 18 of 1 Samuel 3, we see Eli’s reaction to this. Eli says, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.” Samuel’s prophecy would come true in the next chapter – the next chapter explains how Hophni and Phinehas, the two worthless sons of Eli, died at the hand of the Philistines. The Philistines also stole the Ark of the Covenant. When Eli hears the news about his sons and the Ark, he falls backwards and breaks his neck (1 Samuel 4:18).

Eli knew what was going to happen – he knew his sons would both die on the same day. He knew the priesthood would not continue in his family. He knew that a whole lot of bad news was headed his way. Yet, he is able to say, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.” This is an attitude we should have more often (read: all the time). This is very similar to what Jesus says in Gethsemane – Mark 14:36: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Do you really believe that God is in control? He is. Do you really believe that He knows what is best for you? He does. Do you really believe that God has a plan? He does.

Is there really any such thing as “bad” news? Can we say that all news comes from God? Is not everything that comes from God good? Let us accept both “good” news and “bad” news as “God” news. Let us accept it like this: “It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.”

You are all good news to me!

-z

Tags: samuel

This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, April 13th, 2006 at 9:15 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.