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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
And the Lord said to Samuel: "See, I am about to do something in Israel
that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. At that time, I
will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family — from
beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because
of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed
to restrain them. Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, 'The guilt of Eli's
house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.'"
Samuel lay down until
morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to
tell Eli the vision, but Eli called him and said, "Samuel, my son."
Samuel answered,
"Here I am."
"What was it He
said to you?" Eli asked. "Do not hide it from me. May God deal with
you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He told you."
So Samuel told him
everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, "He is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes."
1 Samuel 3:11-18
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the opening verses of
this chapter, we found God calling for young Samuel while he was trying to
sleep but he didn’t recognize His voice instead thinking it was Eli. It took
Samuel going to the priest three times before Eli figured out what was
happening and so he told Samuel what to say if the Lord called a fourth time.
You’ll remember he was to tell God that he was His servant and was listening.
So what did God want to tell
Samuel?
In today’s passage, we learn
the answer to that question for as Samuel listens, the Lord tells him that He
was about to do something in Israel that would “make the ears of everyone who
hears of it tingle”.
What was He about to do?
God made it clear that
He was about to “carry out against Eli everything” that He had “spoke against
his family — from beginning to end”, carrying out His promise to “judge (Eli’s)
family forever because of the sin he knew about after Eli’s sons had “made
themselves contemptible” and “he (Eli) failed to restrain them”. To underscore
the seriousness of the judgment He was delivering, the Lord added that there
would never be atonement for Eli’s family “by sacrifice or offering”.
And with that, the Lord finished
speaking.
Now, we should see where
this left the young Samuel in a real quandary for he had just received news of
a terrible judgment that the Lord was going to bring on Eli and his family. We
read where the weight of bearing this bad news left Samuel “afraid to tell Eli
the vision” as the next day dawned but what he didn’t know was that Eli already
knew about what the Lord was going to do, having received the same message
about punishment earlier (1 Samuel 2:27-36).
So when Eli called for
Samuel and asked, “What was it He said to you?", Samuel must have given
him an indication that he didn’t want to share it because we find Eli following
up his question with a demand saying:
“Do
not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide
from me anything He told you."
And so “Samuel told him
everything, hiding nothing from him” while making Eli aware of the judgment and
after hearing a repeat of what he had been told before, Eli made a remarkable
statement saying:
“He
is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes.”
Eli knew that he and his
sons had failed to carry out their important responsibilities and therefore
accepted accountability, submitting to the Lord and the consequences that were
coming, trusting in the Lord’s ability to know what was best.
You know, I’m not sure
too many people would have handled this the same way, understanding that God’s
penalty was deserved and accepting fate. Perhaps a lot of people would have
tried to convince the Lord that they really hadn’t done the wrong or maybe try
and make the case that His judgment was excessive and unjust. Still others
might become angry with God and curse Him for holding them responsible for their
sins.
As we go back to Eli, he
surely could have sulked and complained that it should have been his sons punished
and not him. After all, weren’t they the ones who had disobediently violated
the priestly duties assigned to them by God? Why not just punish them? And what
about all the years of service he (Eli) had rendered to the Lord in the temple?
Shouldn’t that be taken into consideration in some way so to gain some form of
pardon?
But Eli did none of
this. Instead, he submitted to the Lord’s judgment…to what was God saw as “good
in His eyes”.
So what exactly is good
in the Lord’s eyes?
Simply put, the answer is
anything the Lord does because all His actions are perfectly good, including
His discipline. His will is flawless and there’s no question that He has a will
for everyone and everything. When it comes right down to it, God’s will dictates
the way our lives go.
Let’s examine a couple
of examples from the Bible where God’s will was done in the way of acts that
were good in His eyes.
First, let’s start at
the beginning of creation and see where things were good in His sight right
from the very start.
For in Genesis, chapter
1, we read about God’s creative work and see where the scriptures say over and
over again that He saw that it was good. Indeed, all things that were created
started out good because God created everything that way. This truth is
affirmed by Paul’s words to Timothy when he writes this:
“For
everything God created is good…” 1 Timothy 4:4
And so, we are created
good and in God’s own image but after the great fall in Eden’s garden, the bad
of sin infected God’s perfectly good creation and every single person born from
Adam and Eve (and we all trace back to them) was afflicted in a way that would
ever seek to draw people away from the goodness God created in us. Indeed, sin
seeks to make us wicked and carry us away from God’s will which in turn,
diverts us from doing what is “good in His eyes”. Consider these words from Paul’s
letter to Titus:
“To
the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not
believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are
corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are
detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” 1:15-16
Eli’s sons had allowed
themselves to be corrupted by their sinfulness and thus their actions showed
they denied Him. They became “detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing
anything good” and the same thing will happen to us if we allow sin to get a
foothold in our hearts and minds.
You see, under the
influence of sin, we lose our ability to do anything good in the Lord’s eyes.
And this can lead to Him deciding that judgment is necessary to get our
attention, turn us away from our transgressions, and return to Him and His
goodness. Perhaps one of the greatest blessings God can give to us is His
correction to get us back on course. He doesn’t give up on us but rather seeks
to get us back on track, even if punishment is needed to help us turn from
iniquity and return to the His favor.
A key factor in all
this, in the needed conviction and then direction to renew our hearts, minds
and souls, is the work of the Holy Spirit who ever seeks to lead us back to
live as Jesus did. Going back to Titus, we find Paul sharing this:
“At
one time, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds
of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating
one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He
saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His
mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy
Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so
that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope
of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these
things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote
themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for
everyone.” 3:3-8
Indeed, we were all lost
and doomed to destruction from the sin that afflicted us and sought to draw us
away from God, our Maker. But then Jesus came to bring hope to a hopeless
people…all by the grace of the Lord and His love for us.
So why did God do this?
Why did He send and
sacrifice His only Son to suffer and die on the cross for us…sinners who needed
a Savior in order to be saved from Hell and gain the sure hope of eternal life
in Heaven?
The answer is simple.
Because it was good in
His eyes…and thanks be to Him that it was.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you
feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
