In my first year working for Mercer basketball, there were four teams tied for the number 1 seed in our conference tournament. We played and beat two of those teams in the first two rounds. Unfortunately we lost the championship game by four points to the number five team. I spent the next week with one of our players dwelling on all the ways we could have changed the outcome. We were stuck thinking about what “woulda, coulda, shoulda” happened and regretting our missed opportunity.

Wishing you had done something differently is an agonizing place to be. It is probably how Eli felt when God sent a prophet to announce judgement that was coming for his family. Eli and his sons were priests, but they disobeyed God to please their own evil desires. The consequences of their actions were finally about to catch up with them in a painful reminder of how serious sin is. It was too late to change, and 1 Samuel 2:27-36 records God’s message to Eli.

27 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? 28 Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. 29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ 30 Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men. 34 And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. 35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. 36 And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests’ places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’” – 1 Samuel 2:27-3

  1. Eli’s family tree would have been shaped differently

God tells Eli that the punishment for his family will be felt immediately, but it will also last for generations. We need to understand that our sin affects more than just ourselves. What we do affects the people around us, and it can affect people who are not even born yet.

  1. Eli’s family could have been the faithful priest for years to come

One of the saddest parts of this story is realizing how much Eli’s family was going to miss out on. Faithfulness to God is an opportunity to be a part of His work in the world. When we reject Him and embrace disobedience, we miss opportunities for God to work through us.

  1. Eli’s family should have obeyed God

Eli and his family knew what they were supposed to do, but they treated God’s commands with scorn. Sin is a mockery against God, acting as if our desires are more important than His commands. God will punish sin, but when we do what He commands us to do, He will reward our obedience.

It does not feel good to think about what we would, could, or should have done differently. Let’s follow God in obedience and celebrate how he shapes our lives and the lives of generations to come.

 

– If you’d like to hear the full message, click HERE