Grosey's Messages

Hi folks here is the next study in our Fascinating Lives Study led by Zwingli.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Fascinating Lives Bible Study  1 Samuel 1,2,3  Samuel and Eli

Samuel: The Boy Who Heard God's Voice

Imagine for the next few moments that you are a child again, a child in

Sunday school. You're about seven years old and, as usual, your mind is

drifting and wandering from one thing to another. You're busy. You're fidgety.

You're not thinking much about what the teacher has on her mind. And then,

suddenly, something catches your eye. The teacher brings in a series of

posters, large pictures, each one depicting a story out of the Scriptures. She

asks you to name the story by just looking at the picture.

Got it? OK. Play along with me as I hold up the pictures, and let's see how

well you do in a class of seven- to eight-year-old children in Sunday school.

The first large poster shows a young man standing beside a fresh grave. He

has blood on his clothing, a knife in his hand, and a guilty look on his face.

He's speaking toward the sky with a shrug. What story is this?

Cain and Abel? Good. One for one.

Second, a series of black clouds darkens the top of the poster; the sea is

turbulent with no hint of land anywhere in the distance. In the center of the

picture you see a very large, crudely constructed bargelike boat. Through the

window of the vessel, you see a monkey sitting on a giraffe's head.

Yeah, I know. That one is easy. You immediately said Noah and the ark.

You're right. Very good.

Here's a third. A mother is standing waist deep in a muddy river. She's

placing her baby into a little handmade, reed basket. A small girl looks on

with a worried face.

That's not much to go on, but you might have recognized the story of how

the mother of Moses saved him from certain death. With the help of her

daughter, she floated him down the Nile so that the daughter of Pharaoh

would discover and adopt him. Another magnificent story out of the

Scriptures.

I have one more. It's a young boy in bed, sitting up like something has just

pulled him from his dreams. He is trying to wake up. His face reflects a

mixture of confusion and concentration. He has his head slightly tilted as

though he's trying to hear something.

I love stories. Especially those about humble beginnings. Stories that tell

you what a lowly, unknown person was like before he or she became great or

how an underdog got the best of some bully or how a huge company started in

someone's garage. And every story has a setting—or at least it should. A

story without context is like a diamond without a mounting. The stone may be

beautiful lying loose on a table, but when it's carefully mounted in the right

setting it can dazzle you with its brilliance and sparkling beauty.

We need to understand the setting of the little boy who was awakened from

his sleep. When we do, the significance of the story takes on a deeper

meaning.

ISRAEL'S DARK SETTING

The setting is Israel before the glory days of King David. There has been

a long period—a couple hundred years—of intermittent warfare, cycles of

events during which Israel would suffer invasion followed by famine; then a

judge would emerge and win a temporary peace. During the peace, the

people would sin, and the cycle would kick in again. Another invasion

followed by defeat, resulting in yet another famine, growing more severe

each time. This story takes place during a lull in the violence, a restful

season of relative peace. Days were unusually quiet and uneventful.

My grandfather used to take me fishing down near Palacios, in the South

Texas area not too many miles from Matagorda Bay, which led into the Gulf

of Mexico. Every once in a while, we'd find ourselves in the middle of what

he called a "slick." If you fish, you know what that's like. It's a patch of

water so glassy smooth you can flip a penny into the water and count the

ripples. It's quiet, calm, and windless. Politically and socially, this time in

Hebrew history is like a "slick" after a long stretch of recurring turbulence.

The people of Israel have settled back into a lax lifestyle that could be

described as downright complacent. Their attitude toward God and His

vision for them as a nation has become indifferent, a little ho-hum, boring.

Their leader, the high priest, is Eli, an old man whose eyesight has begun to

grow dim. Unless something changes, he will turn the reins of leadership

over to his two rebellious sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who helped him

minister in the tabernacle, which was the place of worship during this period

of Israel's history.

There's more to the setting, so bear with me. A few years earlier, a woman

named Hannah was a regular visitor to the temple. She spent most of her time

in prayer, begging God for the gift of a son. She vowed to the Lord that if He

would grant her request, she would give the boy back to Him. The Lord

finally gave her a son, whom she named him Samuel. Appropriately, the

name means "asked of God." Soon after he was weaned, she fulfilled her

promise and placed Samuel in the care of Eli, the aging, almost blind, high

priest of Israel. Eli was responsible for Samuel's welfare and education. He

was tutoring him in spiritual things, preparing him for a lifetime of service to

God.

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent. 1 SAMUEL 3:1

The whole land of Israel, stuck in a political and spiritual "slick," was

half asleep, yawning its way from one day to the next. God is silent. No one

has visions, except maybe a few charlatans (sounds a little like today,

doesn't it?). Meanwhile Samuel, still a young lad, carries out his duties for

the Lord under the watchful eye of Eli, a preoccupied, doting, grandfather

type who's very kind and gentle with him. So much for the setting.

A CHILD CONVICTS THE JUDGE

Whenever a story begins with a very placid, ultra-calm setting, you can

usually expect something to change soon:

It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well), and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was, that the LORD called Samuel; and he said, "Here I am." 1 SAMUEL 3:2–4

Everything in the tabernacle revolved around the Most Holy Place. This

was where the sacred, laserlike brilliance of God's presence hovered over

the ark of the covenant—a place so holy it was dangerous to mere humans.

So a thick curtain divided it from the rest of the inner chamber where the

implements of worship were located. One of the special fixtures of this holy

area was a menorah, which, according to the Law of Moses, was never to go

out. To keep the lamp supplied with oil around the clock, the priests would

take turns sleeping near the Most Holy Place to be sure it burned perpetually.

Eli and Samuel were probably taking their turn sleeping in the tabernacle

to keep the lamp lit. They slept in little rooms or closets near that special

area of God's presence. It was when Samuel heard a voice call his name that

he sat up in his little pallet and called back, "Yes?" No one answered, so . . .

He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, lie down again." So he went and lay down. 1 SAMUEL 3:5

You can't always tell from Scripture whether God's voice is audible or

"heard" by some other means. When Saul (later Paul) was on the road to

Damascus, he heard the voice of the resurrected Jesus talking to him in a

vision, and the sound could be heard by his entourage. It was audible. In

Genesis 6, God spoke to Noah and gave him specific instructions. We might

assume that the voice was audible—that is, he heard spoken words with his

ears—but the Lord may have "spoken" to him mind to mind. We don't know

for sure. God's voice to Daniel sounded like thunder, but centuries earlier to

Elijah, He spoke with "a noiseless sound." In Samuel's case, God spoke in

such a way that Samuel literally heard His voice. He spoke with the voice of

a normal, Hebrew man so that the boy thought it was Eli calling to him from

the other room.

Back in the late 1970s, my aging father lived in our home and needed help

on occasion. Our bedroom was upstairs, his was downstairs, and I remember

hearing the sound of his voice winding its way through the darkness,

penetrating my dreams, pulling me out of my sleep. As I awoke, I went to see

what he needed. If you're a parent, you've experienced that with a child. So

it makes sense that Samuel would scamper off to Eli's room to see what the

old man needed. "Here I am."

Eli probably thought Samuel had been dreaming, so he sent him back to bed.

The LORD called yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he answered, "I did not call, my son, lie down again." Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him. 1 SAMUEL 3:6–7; emphasis added

The last sentence represents the storyteller's clarifying comment to the

reader, who already knew of Samuel as a powerful prophet of God. It's the

author's way of saying that this occurred before the Lord had initiated a

personal relationship with the boy. Keep this in mind, as it will become an

important part of the story as it unfolds.

By the way, in the Old Testament, having a personal relationship with the

Lord in the way we have come to know it by the new covenant and the

indwelling Holy Spirit was a rare and truly awesome privilege. I think we

take this privilege far too lightly!

Remember the opening verse of chapter 3 said, "And word from the LORD

was rare in those days, visions were infrequent." Because Samuel and God

weren't yet on speaking terms, everything the boy knew of the Lord came

through Eli, not by personal experience. Before people had the Scriptures,

the Lord would break the silence and speak audibly to a prophet or give

direction from some supernatural source. But it had never happened to

Samuel. He was not only inexperienced, he was confused. He did the only

thing a little, confused boy knew to do; he ran to Eli:

So the LORD called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli discerned that the LORD was calling the boy. 1 SAMUEL 3:8

I'm intrigued by the word "discerned" here. The Hebrew word involves a

heavy element of skill—wisdom by experience. You can't take a course in

college to learn discernment. It comes only through the passage of time as

you apply yourself to discovery by trial and error. Eli had never heard the

voice of the Lord himself, and God's revelation in this way hadn't occurred

for a very long time; yet he was discerning of the Lord's ways. He had come

to know God well. By the third time around, it became clear to him that this

had to be the Lord's voice. I appreciate his counsel to Samuel:

And Eli said to Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 1 SAMUEL 3:9

Just imagine. You're a young person working for someone who has years

of experience in the ways of God and that person you greatly respect says,

"That's God's voice. If you hear it again, you listen. Stay sensitive to what

God has to say." This must have been strange for a small boy to hear, but he

obeyed without hesitation.

Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for Your servant is listening." 1 SAMUEL 3:10

As a child in Sunday school, I remember seeing Bible story posters on the

walls of the classroom. Invariably, one of them was Samuel, lying in bed,

propped up on one elbow, tilting his head slightly as he strained to hear

something. The artist had drawn everything so perfectly I could almost hear

the voice of God . . . but the story for me ended there.

I used to wonder, well, what did He say? Why did He wake him three

times? What was so important? Unfortunately, the message God gave to

Samuel was one of the most severe warnings He had ever issued—so severe

that my Sunday school teachers probably felt like a child ought not hear it. In

the silence of his bedchamber, Samuel heard these frightening words of

warning:

The LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of  everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever." 1 SAMUEL 3:11–14

The message was a huge burden for little Samuel, but, tragically, it was not

something Eli hadn't already heard. God had pulled Eli aside on previous

occasions and told him about his wayward sons. In the previous chapter, we

read:

Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house? Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?' Therefore the LORD God of Israel declares, 'I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever'; but now the LORD declares, 'Far be it from Me—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming when I will break your

strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house. You will see the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that I do for Israel; and an old man will not be in your house forever.'" 1 SAMUEL 2:27–32

THE SIN OF ELI

If you're not familiar with the backstory, you may be wondering, what is

this all about? The short answer is this: two extremely wicked sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

Eli was a great preacher, a fine priest. As the high priest, he was

responsible, once each year, to enter the Most Holy Place and offer an

atoning sacrifice on behalf of the nation. No one else had that privilege. He

judged, he instructed the people in matters of worship, he gave counsel, he

devoted his entire life to serving in the tabernacle of God and ministering to

the needs of His people. But he was a passive, inactive father who indulged

his sons. Those boys of his were a piece of work!

Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the LORD and the custom of the priests with the people. 1 SAMUEL 2:12–13; emphasis added

The author used similar words with little Samuel, but with a very different

emphasis. The word translated "know" (yada) is the same, but the context

makes an enormous difference. Samuel didn't know the Lord due to youthful

ignorance. Hophni and Phinehas didn't know the Lord because they were

willful, carnal reprobates. Morally, they were hollow, spiritual losers! Yet

they had been anointed priests. The following is one example of how they

would abuse their positions:

Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw." If the man said to him, "They must surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as you desire," then he would say, "No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force." Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men despised the offering of the LORD. 1 SAMUEL 2:15–18

According to the Law of Moses, they were to burn the fat as an offering

and take whatever didn't burn from the altar. In this way, they were to

receive only what the Lord provided. Eli's worthless sons defied God's

instructions and reserved the choicest cuts of meat for their dinner table.

That's bad . . . but it only gets worse. Much worse.

Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 1 SAMUEL 2:22

Along with their audacious disrespect for the sacrifices of God, they were

perverse men who took sexual advantage of the women who came to

worship. And they did so without shame, right there in the house of God. And

Eli knew it! You would think that a genuine man of God like Eli would be

outraged. Remember, he also served as Israel's judge, meaning that his

responsibility was to carry out justice on behalf of God. These sons of

shameless lust should have been carried to the edge of town and stoned to

death. Instead, they receive a mild scolding. How pathetic is that ?

He said to them, "Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people? No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the LORD's people circulating. If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death. 1 SAMUEL 2:23–25

Meanwhile . . . "Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor

both with the LORD and with men" (1 Samuel 2:26).

As difficult as it is to imagine, Samuel was raised in this environment, but

apparently knew little about it. While Hophni and Phinehas turned the

tabernacle into a chamber of unbridled lust, Eli kept one hand over Samuel's

eyes and the other over his own. God's patience finally reached its end. He

was through talking to Eli about it. Instead He would place His final word of

judgment on the lips of an innocent little boy:

In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. 1 SAMUEL 3:12–14;

COMPLACENCY IS THE ENEMY OF OBEDIENCE

Eli's behavior reflected his times. Politically, socially, and spiritually,

the nation existed in a sluggish, lazy complacency. He folded his arms and

thought, Well, I just can't do a thing with these boys of mine. Hophni and

Phinehas have been rebellious all their lives, and I'm so busy. I've got so

many things to take care of, surely God will understand.

No, God won't understand! His anger has risen to such a level that He

awakens this young boy in the tender years of childhood to tell him, "This

warning I am giving you so you will know what is going to happen."

So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. Then Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." And he said, "Here I am." He said, "What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you." So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the LORD; let Him do what seems good to Him." 1 SAMUEL 3:15–19

Just as Eli requested, Samuel told him everything that the Lord had said.

He hid nothing from him. I am amazed by Eli's response. He says, in effect,

"Well, that's the way it goes. The Lord knows what He's doing." How much

better if he had finally taken the Lord's warning seriously. How much better

if he had stood to his feet and said, "That's it. I've heard enough. I'm doing

exactly what God says in the Law. I'm taking these boys to the elders of the

city so justice might be carried out! The years of my own negligence and the

years of evil in the tabernacle end now. When I die, I will die in obedience."

That's not Eli's style. He did the same on this day as he had been doing

throughout the years. Nothing.

ANY FAMILY CAN DISINTEGRATE; NONE IS IMMUNE

God has preserved for us fascinating stories to leave us with enduring

lessons. Fathers in particular need to take heed. It has been my observation

that Eli's paralysis of leadership is not uncommon . . . even among those in

ministry. As a father whose vocation is service to the Lord, I have made it my

intentional mission to avoid the failure of Eli. While I have been far from

perfect, I've worked hard not to be passive.

To avoid his fate, each one of us today must recognize that our family

could very easily end up like Eli's. We must recognize that any family can

come unraveled—an elder's family, a pastor's family, a missionary family

whose father walks with God and pours his heart into a church, rich, poor,

healthy, strained . . . any family. The warning signs are often evident. From

Eli's family we can detect no less than four.

FIRST, DISINTEGRATING FAMILIES HAVE PARENTS WHO ARE PREOCCUPIED WITH AN

OCCUPATION TO THE EXCLUSION OF FAMILY NEEDS.

Eli was a busy priest. He was a respected judge. He was engaged in serving the public. We can be reasonably sure that if he weren't, God would have mentioned it in His warning. Public ministry wasn't his weakness. The problem was that he failed to give his boys the kind of attention he gave Samuel. His sons were slowly eroding into a lifestyle of cynicism and skepticism and Eli not only overlooked it, but he failed to discipline them. Yet he did his job well.

Alexander Whyte, one of Scotland's most insightful writers of yesteryear, points out his observations with eloquence:

Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord. Impossible! you would protest, if it were not in the Bible. But just because it is in the Bible, we are compelled to ask ourselves  how it could possibly come about that the sons of such a sacred man as Eli was could ever become sons of Belial.

What! not know the Lord, and they born and brought up within the very precincts of the

Lord's house! Were not the first sounds they heard the praises of God in His sanctuary? Were not the first sights they saw their father in his robes beside the altar with all the tables, and the bread, and the sacrifices, and the incense round about him?1

That causes me to stop and think about my now-adult children. They have

seen me serving communion, they have seen me preaching for years in a

pulpit, they have seen me studying Scripture at home, they have seen me

singing hymns with great passion and volume! Sunday after Sunday they

observed me involved in tasks of ministry. And throughout the week they

heard the stories. They were with us in prayer around the table. While all of

that is good, it would grieve me if that's all they knew of their father. If they

didn't know any part of my personal life like they know of my involvement in

ministry, I would be crushed. And to make matters worse, they would not

imbibe my love for Christ. That's exactly the way it was with Hophni and

Phinehas. Oh, I can't prove it from a Bible verse, but the signs are

everywhere to anyone paying attention.

Whyte continues this way:

And yet, there it is in black and white; there it is in blood and tears—"The sons of Eli knew not the Lord."

Let me think. Let me consider well how, conceivably, it could come about that Hophni and Phinehas could be born and brought up at Shiloh and not know the Lord. Well, for one thing, their father was never at home. What with judging all Israel, Eli never saw his children till they were in their beds. "What mean ye by this ordinance?" all the other children in Israel asked at their fathers as they came up to the temple. And all the way up and all the way down again those fathers took their inquiring children by the hand and told them all about Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and Aaron, and the exodus, and the wilderness, and the conquest, and the yearly Passover. Hophni and Phinehas were the only children in all Israel who saw the temple every day and paid no attention to it.

And, then, every father and mother knows this, how the years run away, and how their

children grow up, till all of a sudden they are as tall as themselves. And very much faster than our tallest children did Eli's children grow up. All things, indeed, were banded against Eli; the very early ripeness of his sons was against Eli. He thought he would one day have time but it was his lifelong regret that he had never had time. And, what with one thing, and what with another; what with their father's preoccupation and their own evil hearts; the two young men were already sons of Belial when they should still have been little children.2

The temptation of any child of vocational Christian ministers is to see the

work of the ministry as just another thing, just another religious occupation.

Breaking through the wall of "public religion" must be the intense

responsibility of the parent-minister if his or her children are to understand

that this isn't a business, a slick profession, or an entertainment arena where

Mommy or Daddy puts on a performance.

The key word is authenticity. Not perfection, understand, for no one gets it

right all the time. But being real. Admit your faults, own them completely,

ask for forgiveness, be quick to give it, allow children plenty of room to fail,

and let them see you live your life behind the scenes with love, grace, and

humor. All of that takes time and effort, both of which will cost you

productivity on the job. Consider it a priceless, permanent investment.

SECOND, DISINTEGRATING FAMILIES HAVE PARENTS WHO REFUSE TO FACE THE SEVERITY OF THEIR CHILDREN'S ACTIONS.

Eli knew how horrible his sons had become, yet he did nothing! I've seen parents in such denial that they cannot bring themselves to admit that their child has a serious problem with drugs or pornography or sexual promiscuity or stealing—behavior that most any other normal person would consider a red flag. Yet they act as though the crisis will resolve itself if given a little patience.

I've seen too many disintegrating families miss the warning signs, so I have even less reason to doubt the wisdom of Proverbs 19:18. Read these words in several different translations:

Discipline your children while there is hope. If you don't, you will ruin their lives. (NLT)

Discipline your children while they are young enough to learn. If you don't, you are helping them to destroy themselves. (TEV)

Discipline your children while you still have the chance; indulging them destroys them. (MSG)

If you have children who are young, you have children who are

impressionable. That's the time to make your most important investment in

them. To wait until they're as tall as you, you will have already allowed them

to self-destruct.

If your children are nearly adults, take responsibility for your part in their

poor choices, then do whatever is necessary to save them. Because you've

waited so long, there are few options that don't have grave consequences in

the short term. So consider the long term, and do what you must. I repeat: It is

never too late to start doing what is right.

THIRD, DISINTEGRATING FAMILIES FAIL TO RESPOND QUICKLY AND THOROUGHLY TO THE WARNINGS OF OTHERS.

Listen to their teachers. They may seem biased

against your child, but they rarely are. Take the early reports seriously, and

get involved soon. Listen to your pastor or your youth leader. Listen to the

uniformed officer with a badge who comes to your door.

Don't be so quick to jump to your child's defense. At least take time to

hear the report in full. Ask direct, hard questions to be sure you have the

whole picture. Then take time to reflect on what you have heard. If it

resonates, causing you to think that it might be accurate, then dig deeper and

go to whatever measure is necessary to make certain you have it resolved.

Without being impulsive in your reaction, don't be like Eli. He didn't listen

to the man of God who came to him (see 1 Samuel 2:27), and he later paid

dearly for his negligence.

FOURTH, DISINTEGRATING FAMILIES RATIONALIZE WRONG BEHAVIOR, AND THEREBY BECOME PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Eli participated in his sons' behavior. We know this because Eli got fat on the food his boys had stolen from the altar. Read again 1 Samuel 2:29 and try to imagine the scene God paints for Eli:

Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people? (emphasis added)

Eli rationalized and excused the sins of his sons while eating meat that had

been stolen from the altar. As for Samuel, the boy who heard God's voice, the closing words of this episode tell us that the sleepy, spiritual indifference that had lulled Israel into complacency was about to come to a screeching halt. Samuel would rouse the nation from its slumber and call it to action:

Thus Samuel grew and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fail. All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD. And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, because the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD. 1 SAMUEL 3:19–21

A man of action was on the scene, and Israel's spiritual drift was about to end. Even as a little boy, he not only heard the Lord, but he obeyed His voice.

DO SOMETHING . . . GET INVOLVED

As you ponder all of this, especially as you evaluate the condition of your

family, remember that hearing the truth isn't enough. Action is essential. Only

on the rarest occasions does the Lord bless someone for merely listening to

Him. Faith is an action. That means His blessings almost always lie on the

other side of obedience. According to Scripture, knowledge alone merely

puffs up, but with action comes humility (1 Corinthians 8:1). Besides,

problems like those of Eli do not solve themselves. They multiply and

intensify with the passing of time. If the willful acts of rebellion and carnal

conflicts that you permit in your family are never resolved, they become

unwelcome wedding gifts when your children choose to marry.

If you have reached the conclusion that your family is in danger, choose to

do something rather than nothing. Refuse to be like Eli. In the end, after

achieving public success in ministry, God considered Eli a failure at home . .. and judged him for it. Don't go there.

Questions

1. Why do you think pastors kids have a reputation for rebellion?
2. History is His story. Why is this an important way to understand all history?

3.     God had abandoned Shiloh. Jeremiah 7:11-15, 23- 26.

Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

23 But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day.26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

Is it possible for God to abandon a church?

4.     Why is it significant that God called the boy by name?

5.     What were the problems with Eli's sons?

6.     Proverbs 22:6.    Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.  What does this mean?

7. With older children, what do you need to do to help them realise the reality of a walk with Christ?

8. Deuteronomy 6 gives insight into effective teaching of Children of all ages.  Describe these insights.

"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey."

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10       "And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you---with great and good cities that you did not build,11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant---and when you eat and are full,12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you---15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God---lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.