Saturday, January 30, 2010

Ruining Eli's Day

Speaking of words from the Lord, have you ever been in a situation where a friend or relative is engaged in an activity that you know is sinful, and you really want God to give you a great condemnation to fire at them?

I certainly have.

In fact, I have actually acted on these supposed "words of God" and delivered messages of judgement to people who would probably benefitted more from my support than my judgement.

But such is the way of those individuals who posses a razor sharp moral compass, which they usually point at those around them. I am one of those individuals, a fact those who know me are very well aware of.

But I digress. There are special cases when one receives insight into another person's life, and this insight is negative. The prophet Samuel, mouthpiece of God to Kings Saul and David, at the very beginning of his career, received an insight from the the Lord declaring that the high priest's family was condemned because of their many evils and that Eli's (the high priest) name would be cut off from future generations.

Understandably, Samuel was initially hesitant to relay that message to Eli. The same can be said of us. Today, people rarely if ever receive God's direct condemnation on another person's sinful behavior. However we do have God's Word, namely the Bible, to convey His mind to us and make clear His opinions.

In reading the Bible, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the text and can link the words to situations in life. When God does this in you on behalf of another's behavior, it can be difficult to then present this to the person in question. It was certainly difficult for Samuel. But in the end he delivered that packet of doom to Eli.

And so must we, if the Spirit brings to our attention verses to confront another on. Of course, doing this on your own without God's guidance is using the Bible as a weapon, which is something the world has suffered enough of. But bringing God's message to a person, in the name of love, is a noble thing. But more than that, it is the responsible thing, because who are we to question God's decisions? If He has sent it to you, you must deliver it.

Even if it ruins Eli's day.



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