Do Not Give Up! Exercise Your Authority!

Beverley October 10, 2014 1 Comment

In my last post, I mentioned that as we become older, we sometimes believe that we are useless.

You are valuable to God! Read about it here.

Today, I will share with you the story of Eli who felt that he was useless and practically gave up on life.

As a result of his negativity and his lack of firmness, he attracted a terrible curse from God upon his household.

Eli was a priest in Israel for many years, but he became advanced in age, possibl in his nineties.

Consequently, he felt that he was not able to perform the function of the priesthood, so he handed over the position to his two sons.

However, the Bible recorded that these sons were villainous and they treated the offerings of the Lord with much contempt.

Eli’s sons also slept with the women who served at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Their sins were grievous in the sight of God.

The people were also ashamed of them and told Eli about his sons’ misconduct. Eli confronted his sons and rebuked them, but they refused to obey their father.

At this point, the Lord had already decided to destroy them, so their hearts were hardened.

Not Hearing by artur84/Freedigitalphotos.net

Even though Eli rebuked his sons, he did not restrain them (1 Samuel 3: 13).

The use of the word restraint means that Eli did not exercise his authority as a priest and father by ordering his sons to step down from their position as priests.

As a result of Eli’s lack of control over his sons, the Lord sent His servant to prophecy against the house of Eli.

Punishment for Failure to Exercise Authority

The Lord dishonored Eli because of his lack of honor to Him.
The Lord took away Eli’s strength. He also shortened the lifespan of his descendants.
Distress was pronounced upon Eli’s household.
Grief would blind his descendants’ eyes and heart.
Eli’s two sons would both die on the same day.
The Lord would remove Eli and his family from the priestly office and will raise up a faithful priest who would do according to the will of God.

The punishment of Eli was very harsh, and some people might say it was unfair because Eli was, after all, an elderly man and lack vitality and strength.

Furthermore, if he removed his sons from the priesthood who would perform the rituals of the temple?

The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. (1 Samuel 13:14)

But, God had already made provision for another priest to take Eli’s place.

Published by Beverley

Beverley has been serving the Lord since she was a child. At an early age, she recognized that God had a special plan for her life, but it was not until in her adulthood that she surrendered her total life to God and accepted the mandate that God placed on her life. The Lord called her into His Kingdom to be an encourager, intercessor, teacher, scribe, priest, and to proclaim the Word of God. Since then, Beverly has established a blog to teach us to become the oil and wine. The oil and wine are purified and mature products, which is the advanced level that the Lord expected of us. In 2017, Beverley published her first book, Harm Not The Oil And Wine. In it, she described her trials and how God helped her to overcome them, and to live more victoriously. The book also exposed the enemy of our souls with detailed information about his past defeats and future extinction. Wright spents most of her time studying the Bible to know the truth of God’s Word. She believes that only God’s truth can expose the deception of the enemy, and uproot and tear down spiritual strongholds. You can learn more about Beverley’s life and testimony on her website becomingtheoilandwine.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Google+ under the name of her blog, and on Twitter as @Theoilandwine. View all posts by Beverley