Verse of the day: 1 Samuel 2:25, If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them.
Here is one of those verses that will cause some controversy amongst God’s people. Some would read this and immediately conclude that God chose, beforehand, not to save these two men. However, before we jump to conclusions, let us first stop and take a closer look at the situation. The sons of Eli, were corrupt and wicked men. They brought dishonor to the priesthood and were vile in their actions toward the people, discouraging many from bringing their offerings to the Lord, because of their behavior. That being said, I want us to be sure of this one thing, God desires that everyone would come to accept His Son and be saved…EVERYONE! 2 Peter 3:9 clearly says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” If this is so, which it is, why did the Lord desire to kill these two men? It had everything to do with what was in their hearts. This is no different than when God chose to use Pharaoh’s hardened heart to show His awesome power (Romans 9:17-18). Pharaoh’s heart was already hard, and God chose to harden it further for His own glory. These men, by their actions clearly demonstrated that there was absolutely no repentance in their hearts. God, knowing their hearts, chose to seek their death rather than give them something they would not seek, God’s forgiveness. Evidence that they had no intention of repenting came in their response to Eli’s weak rebuke in this verse, “Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father”. Quite often, this is the reason we repeat the same sins over and over again. We lament our sin when we are caught, or think we are going to be caught, and we cry out our confession, but there is no real repentance in our hearts. When the heat of what we have done has passed or we realize that we did not get caught this time, we go back to our pet sin. If we are caught and there is some loss, we confess because we desire that whatever we lost be restored, but there is no real repentance. We see a picture of this with Lot. When he was taken captive while living in Sodom, God allows him to be rescued by Abraham, and allows him to recover all that was taken from him. However, we immediately see him return to Sodom, right back to his old life, rather than flee that wretched place and start anew. The aftermath of that decision was that he later lost everything, including his wife, and ended up fathering his own grandchildren because of the incestuous acts by his own daughters (Genesis 14, 19). The bottom line is that God knows our hearts. He knows when we have hardened our hearts and sees through our superficial confessions. He will allow us to continue down the path of unrepentance until it ends in tragedy. However, if we truly come to Him with repentance…true repentance, and confession, the Word tells us that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9). I would like us to consider the areas we struggle with, and I ask, “Are we truly coming before the Lord with repentance in our hearts?” “Are we just confessing without true repentance, and maybe that is why we are returning to our pet sins?” If we are truly saved, and we know Jesus Christ, then we have all we need to overcome the repetitive sins in our lives that cause us, and those around us, pain. Does it mean we will not be tempted? No, but it does mean that we can overcome the temptation and be right with God once again. 1 Corinthians 10:13 reminds us, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Let us not be like the sons of Eli who incurred the wrath of God in their lives because of their hardened hearts and failure to go to Him with true repentance.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
No comments:
Post a Comment