Hope-Filled Christian
Hope-Filled Christian
Reassessing Priorities: God First
What if you could truly understand the consequences of dishonoring God, and the significance of placing Him above all else? This episode takes you on a journey through 1 Samuel 2:12-36, revealing the tragic downfall of Eli and his sons who failed to respect God. We retrace their steps, highlighting their greedy appropriation of the sacrifices and Eli’s passive complacency in the face of their transgressions. A poignant reminder from a man of God underscores the special role Eli and his family were entrusted with, and the severe repercussions of their actions. The episode serves as a stark reminder that God honors those who honor Him.
Chasing life's myriad distractions, have we inadvertently pushed God down the priority list? This episode serves as a wake-up call, reminding us to honor God in every facet of our lives. We talk about the dangers of idolizing other activities over our relationship with God, and the importance of committing our time and heart to Him. Even amidst a frantic schedule, there are creative ways to connect with God - which we explore in-depth. Join us as we reaffirm our commitment to honor and worship God, seeking His mercy and guidance in our daily lives. This episode is a call to action - to reevaluate our priorities, realign our lives, and return to God.
Hi and welcome back to HFC. This week we're taking a look at first Samuel, chapter two, verse kind of big range area here, verse 12 through 36. Probably stopping at verse 30, though. So essentially in this area we have something going on. We have Eli and his sons and essentially Eli's sons were doing something despicable. And the despicable thing that they were doing was they were not honoring God and they had gone kind of past the point of not honoring God. They were now explicitly dishonoring God Because we all know that there's, you know, I'm not honoring God with my time, I'm not honoring God with my sacrifices, I'm not honoring God with my life. But then there's the point of dishonoring God. But I mean, it's kind of like wow, I honestly I'm reading this and like that's insane that they would ever think of doing that. But let's go ahead and read. This is the new living translation, starting at verse 12.
Speaker 1:Now, the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, eli's sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling. Mind you, this is the animal that was offered with the sacrifice, the servant would stick the fork into the pot in demand that whatever it brought up to be given to Eli. Let me read it again the servant would stick the fork into the pot in demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli's sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. Sometimes a servant would come even before the animal's fat had been burned on the altar, which we're supposed to give God the fatty parts, because that's the best parts. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting. The man offering the sacrifice might reply take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first. Then the servant the one Eli's sons would send would demand no, give it to me now or I'll take it by force. So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord's sight, for not only were they not honoring him by respecting the sacrifice because taking anything from it in the first place despicable but they were going even further than it would be like. Not only do I want to dishonor the Lord's sacrifice, but I'm going to go ahead and you know, I'm going to take my parts first what someone else is offering up as a sacrifice. Take my parts first and go about and enjoy those parts for myself. And so the Lord said for the truth of the Lord's offerings with contempt.
Speaker 1:But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest. Each year, his mother made a small cult for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. Before they returned home, eli would bless Elkana and his wife and say may the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one. She gave to the Lord, which Samuel was the one that was given to the Lord. And the Lord blessed Hannah and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Now, eli was at this point very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. So this is where Eli's dishonoring goes. He was aware of what his sons were doing. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the tabernacle. Eli said to them I have been hearing reports from all the people about the wicked things you are doing? Why do you keep sinning? You must stop, my sons. The reports I hear among the Lord's people are not good. If someone sins against another person, god can mediate for the guilty party, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede? Did Eli's sons wouldn't listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to put them to death. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew taller and grew in favor with the Lord and with the people.
Speaker 1:One day, a man of God came to Eli and gave him this message from the Lord I revealed myself to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. I chose your ancestor Aaron, from among all the tribes of Israel, to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense and to wear the priestly vest as he served me Eli assigned. So this is the, the man of God coming to Eli and he's saying like this is what God is saying. It's like I revealed myself to your ancestors. So I was there for your ancestors. I chose your ancestor Aaron, from among all the tribes, to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my behalf, like to burn incense and to wear the priestly vest as he's serving, and I assigned the sacrificial offerings to your priest. So he's saying, basically, I chose you for all these things. I gave you something that I didn't give anybody else. And then he goes on to say so why do you score my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me For you? And they have become fat from the best offerings of my people, israel. Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, says I promise that your branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests.
Speaker 1:And here's the part that I was like wow, that's meaningful, it's impactful. It says but I will honor those who honor me and I will despise those who think lightly of me. I mean, there's more to it. He basically says that you know he's gonna no longer bless the line of Eli, but I like the part of I'm going to honor those who honor me. And there's a meaning in here. That's not so, like we saw. How is it? For?
Speaker 1:They treated the Lord's offerings with contempt, and it's something I've been reading about and it mentions, you know, what does it mean to offer something in contempt? Sorry, what does it mean to treat the Lord's offerings with contempt? What does it mean to treat anything about the Lord's in contempt. It means to treat it as less than what it actually is, which everything from the Lord is, and anything to the Lord is to be dealt with with the highest respect. Not only was, you know, eli's line not taking this role that they had with the utmost respect they should have had much more respect for it but it's also the sense that they were, you know, deliberate disrespecting.
Speaker 1:But I guess the part that I was reading in this book, again when he talks about it, says however, when what is not sin takes precedence over the word of the Lord, it becomes sin. And there's times where maybe we're not taking to the essence of literally going and taking, you know, from the sacrificial offerings, because we don't have those anymore, because Jesus paid all our sins. But we do something similar. We similar to Eli and his sons. God has given us a role and we treat it with disrespect.
Speaker 1:When God has specifically chosen us for a situation, we don't give it the time that it needs or fully. You know, use our time wisely. We're not as enveloped within it as needed, we're not in it as much as we could be, we're not giving it the respect that it deserves. This is the king of kings. This is God that we're serving in, and so many times we're not giving what we're doing towards God or unto God or for God, the respect that it deserves.
Speaker 1:And, honestly, the part that had originally kind of wanted to focus on is the idea of I will honor those who honor me and I will despise those who think lightly of me. And if we can think of anything that takes precedence over the word of the Lord becoming sin, because we're then dishonoring it by saying, oh, but I must go do that first, I must do this first, I must do that first, then we realize that there are lots of times where we dishonor God when we say, oh, I can't go to church this week because I'm gonna go do this, or I can't pray tonight because I'm so sleepy. I'm gonna take a nap. And it's not so much in the sense of that there's anything inherently wrong with a nap, or there's something inherently wrong about going on a trip. It's the idea that we're putting precedence over it from God, not to say that you can't take a trip, but if you're gonna miss church, then make sure you're still spending time with God, because the whole point of missing church is not you know, oh, I'm not going to church. That in itself is wrong, because if you're spending time with God anyways I mean, you're sick you obviously can't go to church you still spend time with God. So it isn't necessarily about church as a place. It's more of communing in church as a people, taking part in the body of Christ by learning about God's word and bringing it within yourself. It's spending time with God and respecting God and honoring God and everything that you do.
Speaker 1:And when you're going for a trip, you put into the trip okay, we have to make sure that we're making time for God. Oh well, we were too sleepy after we got home, you know, last night from Disneyland. Well, maybe before we go to Disneyland, or, you know, instead of going immediately to Disneyland, why don't we spend 30 minutes and just read the Bible and talk about the Bible and worship God? Or an hour, or, you know, making time for God, setting a precedent that, yes, we may have come on the trip, but you know, foremost, my foremost role and my foremost job and priority is to worship and spend time with God. So if I'm going on a trip, god is still taking precedence. God is still going to be my priority.
Speaker 1:I'm, yes, I may be going on the trip, and there's nothing inherently wrong with the trip, but when that trip takes me from, you know, spending time with God, then there is something wrong with the trip. When that trip becomes an idol and you're saying, well, it's not an idol, it's a trip, it's a short trip how is that an idol? I'm just taking some time. But when we decide that the trip is more important than spending time with God, when we say, oh well, I'll just, you know, I'm just gonna take a week off, it's fine, you know, I have this trip and it's gonna be so busy and so stuff, and we're not making time for God, when, in reality, like, we make time for the things that are important for us, and that's the truth of it. And that's kind of why, you know, when someone is making time for you to talk to you or at least catch up and say hi, how's it going, you tend to just start saying, you know what, they don't really care.
Speaker 1:And that's the same way with God. When we're not making time with him consistently and setting this this priority, this precedence, when we know, oh, today's gonna be busy. I should, you know, read my Bible now, because I'm not gonna get a chance to later on or today's gonna be busy. Oh, you know what? I'm not gonna have time to read my Bible when I get home. I have a 30 minute break. Let me read, you know, a chapter Setting the precedence and setting the idea that reading and spend reading your word and spending time with God is a priority.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's not gonna be as much as you could have spent, you know. Maybe it's not going to be like oh yeah, I can spend three hours reading my Bible, you know, today and then tomorrow, well, I gotta spend three hours again. Oh, I gotta spend three hours again. No, but why is it that when we get free time, our first you know thing is oh, I got free time, let me go play a video game, I got free time, let me go watch TV. I got free time, let me go watch a movie. Oh, I'm off tomorrow, let me go do this. When it's like, oh, I'm off tomorrow, you know what? I really want to wake up and I want to read my Bible and spend a little more time than I normally would with God. Am I gonna spend the entirety of the day?
Speaker 1:It says set a precedence. It says set a priority and have no other gods before God. That doesn't mean that we can't go out and do things, because there are necessities and there are things that we like to do, but nothing should ever come between us in our relationship with God. There should never be anything where it's like you know, this is more important than God, or, oops, I forgot to make time for God, or it's okay, whatever, I'll just pray to God tomorrow, since I didn't have time today. Like it should never get to that point because I was spending time with God should be such a priority. Where it's like, oops, I forgot to, you know, watch TV because and that's never gonna happen I forgot to watch TV because I was spending time with God. That just doesn't happen. Because in our minds, tv is a priority.
Speaker 1:In our minds, reading, you know, books are a priority, listening to music is a priority, going for a run, working out is a priority, and so when none of those things are inherently wrong, but when we decide that those things are more important, then we can't possibly forget to do those things. That's when they become wrong. And I get it. You're busy, you have a busy day, there's literally you can say, there's literally no time. Well, instead of listening to music, why don't you put on a podcast? Or, instead of listening to music, why don't you have the Bible read you a chapter? Or, instead of listening to music, put on a sermon, doing something where you can spend time with God?
Speaker 1:And, and you know, it happens like that when we care about people, when we care about something, if you love someone, you make time for them. And that's the same thing that this is trying to set the precedents up. When you care about someone, you put them first. You put them first instead of your reputation. You put them first instead of the embarrass me. Put them first instead of, even sometimes, your family. Eli Could have earlier, in his son's, in his son's age, put his foot down and said hey, I'm your father and I love you, but I love my God more.
Speaker 1:We're not doing that and, straight up, just said you will no longer work here because you know he's in charge of it. You go to said you know what? You're not gonna be here anymore. I would rather give it to. You know, have Samuel do it, or something like that. Then have you be in this house disrespecting my Lord? He could have done something, what it have kept things as favorable between him and his Family members.
Speaker 1:Now and sometimes, that's what we have to think of. We have to say, you know, ego, pride, reputation, other relationships Should not have a precedence over my relationship with God. And I'm not saying that's easy and I'm not even saying I've been in a position where I have to make that choice. But we should never say, oh, I have to Prioritize this over God, I can't make time for God because I'm doing this, or I, oh, I don't have time for that today because I have to. You know, we need to make time for God because that's honoring him. Did you? Anything less would be to dishonor him. To do anything less would be to idolize whatever we have as More important than God to us. Anyway, that's basically it, and then next week we'll be talking about the idea of missed opportunities, because I actually really liked it in this book and it's something that I always had a question about. So I think it'd be cool to cover, as always at the end of the prayer.
Speaker 1:Dear God, thank you for your word on this. It's really eye-opening to realize that. You know, it doesn't have to be inherently a sin, it doesn't have to be something like murder or killing or or Lying or stealing. In order to be a sin, it just has to take us away from you, because that's the first commandment have no other gods before you. Lord, open our eyes to situations and Things that we've put before you and help us to get creative.
Speaker 1:You are the God of creation. Surely or you can give us ways to be creative, to spend time with you, even if we are insanely busy, even if we have, quote-unquote, no time for you. Help us to be creative and come up with creative ways to spend time with you and to worship you and to honor you and to respect you. Help us to put you first more and more in our lives, and I thank you for being a merciful God and ask that you give us mercy for the previous Times of rehab it, but you first. I pray that you forgive us of our sins. Lead us not into interpretation. In the name of Jesus, amen. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of HFC. I hope you really enjoyed it. Have a God bless week and see you next week. Bye you.