(I love my readers ehn. And whosoever I love, I give them gist. Therefore, before we go into today’s topic, lemme quickly gist you…)
Anytime you see a new topic, believe me when I tell you the Holy Spirit chose it; because left to me, I will only be writing stories about anything “Christianly” I can lay hands on. Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen…? (Why am I telling you all these?) It is to the end that we understand that nah God get TRC (God owns TRC), not me. Whatever He’d have me do or write is what you find here, and I’d be capping if I tell you I’m not blessed by these articles that are put out. Matter of fact, I’m always the first partaker of the blessings of these articles before I put them out. That’s why I always share it! If I’m not blessed, I won’t share it. I kid you not, there are wide range of things that I was previously oblivious on, but while studying and writing, I learnt them, and a new dimension of the Word of God has opened up to me. And to be frank, my walk with God has skyrocketed to a new level. There are some information I stumble upon sometimes, either while studying or writing, and me myself, I exclaim or gasp and I’m like, “Holy Spirit, wow!”
You recall I was telling us yesterday that John the Baptist didn’t make the list of Bible characters I wanted to write on, but the Lord brought him to mind while I was listening to a short message that’s not even up to a minute. Today’s character did make the list. However, I wasn’t interested in his character but I found something fascinating about him while I studied. When I checked my topics and made inquiry from the Holy Spirit on who to write on next, He mentioned “Eli,” and I didn’t believe because I felt there was nothing interesting about him, and I wanted to write on someone that we all can learn good characters from; the likes of Esther, Elijah, Abraham etc. The Holy Spirit was like, Nope. Eli! I was like “sir, this man is not interesting.” I was made to understand that it’s not by being an interesting character, but by being blessed from whatever lesson coined from that character! Guess what? I learnt something. Here’s what I learnt…
Let me give you a short story of what Eli did- with a story.
Liam happens to be the father of Phonie and Alpheas. They were an excuse for pastor’s sons. They displayed rude, cocky and crude behaviours. They were the exact opposite of Pastor’s sons and they brought constant headache to their father, the lead pastor of Lesral Gospel Mission.
Now, Pastor Liam had someone else’s son living with him, in person of Masuel. No drop of this child’s blood has the trace of a Pastor in it. He happened to be living with the Pastor because his parents decided he’d do better with God than with them. With no parents to train him, and pastor Liam being his only parental guide, he came out well, and was the perfect definition of a Pastor’s son. Why Pastor Liam’s children are wayward is what I can’t seem to wrap my head around.
One day, God sent another pastor from a sister branch of the church to Pastor Liam to tell him what was going to befall him, his children and his generations yet unborn because of how he treated his son’s case with levity. Apparently, Pastor Liam wasn’t moved.
Same God sent little Masuel to Pastor Liam to tell him that God was going to remove him from his position in the church and that he and his sons were going to die tragically, and his generations yet unborn will die prematurely. Masuel was around his teenage years when God told him these things about Pastor Liam. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you Pastor Liam’s response to the message from God… He said, “He is God. Let him do whatever he thinks best.”
1 Samuel 3:18 (MSG).
God’s Words do not fall to the ground. And so it was unto Pastor Liam and his two sons according as it was spoken by Masuel and the other pastor from a sister branch of the church.
I believe this story is not alien to you, but each time, it saddens my heart that the one who inherited priesthood failed woefully. I did think Eli was prominent in the Old Testament, until I discovered he was mentioned in only 4 chapters of the Bible- 1st Sam. 1-4, and that was all about him. His entire family and lineage, wiped off from the scriptures.
Should we call it pride, ignorance or arrogance? As in, why did Eli not run to God to intercede on his behalf and that of his sons? Why did he let the matter degenerate to the level that even his unborn generations had to suffer for it?
Eli’s sons did something wrong, right? Here’s another set of individuals who did something wrong and they prayed to God for mercy, and God turned His judgement away from them.
1. Moses and the children of Israel- If you know how many times Moses interceded on behalf of those stick-necked guys (I’m sorry for the harsh word. It is for emphasis sake)… Moses was practically their Saviour. There was a time God was actually determined to wipe all of them out because of this their strong head attitude, but Moses stepped in on their behalf and God reversed His judgement. Exo. 32:1-15.
2. David too, God told him the child he had from his illicit affair with Bathsheba was going to die. Yes, the child did die. However, God saw the sincerity and genuine repentance of David such that from that same Bathsheba whom he acquired illegally, God raised for him an heir in the person of Solomon. 2 Sam. 12:1-24.
3. Let me remind you of Hezekiah as well. God sent Isaiah to tell him that he should put his house in order because he was going to die. The Bible said Hezekiah turned to the wall, and wept sore. If you’ve ever cried, as in cried your heart out, I believe Hezekiah did more than that. He cried to God, and guess what the Bible says… “before Isaiah got out of the palace (as in) he was half way out of the palace when God called him to go back to Hezekiah to tell him that He (God) will add a whooping sum of fifteen more years to his life! I’m pretty sure that delivering the first message of his death and the message of the addition of fifteen more years of life span Hezekiah did not take up to an hour. Immediately, the message got to him, he turned to God, and God in turn, turned His Word again! (2 Kings 20:2-6)
I’m convinced the judgement God wanted to deliver to Eli came to him through two means; first a man of God, and second, a child, Samuel so he (Eli) can understand the gravity of what he has done, repent, and change his ways. Apparently, Eli’s mind was made up. That particular statement, “It is the Lord, let Him do whatever He deem fit” (to me) steams from pride and arrogance! It’s like someone coming up to tell you they’re going to rob you, twice, without actually robbing you yet, and on no occasion did you plead for your life and belonging. Even someone who is at gun point pleads for their life. How much more you that they even gave warning to ahead of time?
It is possible to have done something bad, but you should also learn to retrace your steps, and very fast at that. Most especially when God has sent a note of warning to you. I’ve had my own fair share of this…
When I was slack and not paying so much attention to this blog and other things the Lord has told me He’d have me do, the Lord told me plainly, clean and clear that “He was going to replace me.” You know what scared me about this statement; at first, when I was trying to run away from the calling, God told me He’d not have any other person do it except me. Then, I grudgingly accepted it. Now, He was telling me “if I didn’t take my time, He was going to replace me.” Remembering it now is giving me signs of PTSD. Fear gripped me then. I had to seek for forgiveness for my lazy attitude and got to work!
Pride is very dangerous for a believer. If you develop yourself with the feeling of “if I don’t do it, no one else can,” you’ll be shocked that by the time your replacement arrives, it’ll be someone who’s not even worthy to lace your sandals, talk more of seat in your chair (this is just for explanatory purposes. You’re not too big such that someone is not worthy to lace the latchet of your shoes. I’m just borrowing KJV’s language to further buttress my point). Samuel that replaced Eli didn’t even come from the family of Levites, and he didn’t even come close to being a priest because of the lineage he came from. Thing is God had promised right from the time of Aaron that only Levites will and should serve as priests (you see what I mean by God replacing someone with someone who’s not ‘supposedly’ up to your standard).
If God has placed something in your hands, if He has asked you to do something, it is far better that you take up the job as quickly as you can and you carry it out as if your life depends on it, because it literally does! Don’t go around with the cloak of “I can do this, no other person can.” Once again, when you see your replacement, you’ll be shocked to your bones because you never expected it. Ask Saul how he felt when David came around. The Bible said the guy (David) was ruddy, baba was about 17 years of age when he took Goliath down. Saul no believe say child wey small like that go win battle, talk more of succeed am (Saul couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that David, as supposedly small as he was could win the battle and then become king).
Generally ehn, if you’ve fallen short of God’s glory, if you’ve trespassed and transgressed against God’s law and will for your life, the first wise thing to do is approach the throne of grace and ask for mercy and forgiveness. Then go ahead to do that which He’d have you do. Do not wait to be threatened or warned before you do what is right. This next statement is bookmark and note worthy, “when you do not pray, you’re proud. What you’re simply telling God is, ‘I am sufficient of myself, and I do not need Your help.’ “ (nah wetin kill Eli be that- that’s what killed Eli. Nigerians also call it, “oversabi” [sorry, there’s no translation for this one}).
Lesson 2: do not intentionally commit sin. (1 Sam. 3:13). Don’t intentionally do a bad thing because you’re covered by grace. Sooner or later, the grace is not going to leave you; but you’re going to leave the grace because you’ve drowned too deep in that sea of self-righteousness and it’ll take the intervention of the 24 elders with the power of the trinity to bring you back to life (this is an exaggeration though. But I guess you get the point). Eli was watching his sons going the wrong path, and it was recorded that he rebuked them only once (1 Sam. 2:22-25).
Lesson 3: (I feel this place is too heated, and there’s too many rebuke and hard tone. Therefore, this particular lesson is a good one). If not all, Eli fulfilled part of his purpose by leading Samuel to knowing God. It’s saddening he made a grave mistake with his biological children. If your parents are correcting you in the way of the Lord, it is much better to yield. As the saying goes, “it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Do not despise the words of your Godly and believing parents. They are also capable of mentoring you! (Note the emphasis on “Godly and believing parents”). This lesson is intertwined yeah… Samuel followed Eli closely and I believed he obeyed all instructions. In fact, it was through Eli that Samuel got to decipher God’s voice and how He speaks! So yeah, at least, this is one good thing Eli did.
Regardless of whatever position you are, do not despise a young believer who’s just coming up because you fear that they might take over from you. See, in this kingdom, there is space for everybody. If you don’t do well, you’ll definitely be replaced. If you do well, that person in the position of a protégé that the Lord is asking you to build up will have his/her own part to play in God’s kingdom, and it doesn’t have to interfere with yours. I know of men of God who left big churches because God asked them to start their own. They followed protocol by visiting the pastor in charge of their present church and asking him to pray for them. And when they went out, their ministry came out well and big! And they still submit to their mentor who pastors the church they left, and there’s nothing like beefing each other. As I’m writing this, Pastor Paul Enenche of Dunamis International Gospel Centre comes to mind. He came out from Winners Chapel, overseen by Bishop David Oyedepo, and till today, Pastor Enenche is still submitting to Bishop Oyedepo and both ministries are doing well!
*****
(Hope you know that Pastor Liam is Eli, Phonie is “Hophni,” Alpeas is “Phineas” and Masuel is “Samuel” and Leral is “Israel." The pastor of the sister branch of the church is the man of God. You’ll find this story in 1st Sam. 2 from verse 22).
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