73. A Midnight Message - God Saves the Day (Again!)

G' day, everyone.

Dave here.

Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

Before we get into it, a big shout out to the Morris family who've been tuning in over the last few weeks.

I'm super glad that you're enjoying the show.

A special shout out to one of the family members who has a special passion for podcasting.

You know who you are.

I love that you've already done some work with a microphone and, and I'll certainly keep you in mind if I have some special projects.

Anyone else out there who's listening?

I'd love to hear from you.

That'd be really great.

Get in contact@faithfulgod.net now, on with the show.

Do you know that God's plans are always good?

He's always working to do what's best.

What he does is always excellent.

And yet sometimes it's hard to see what he's doing.

Sometimes you look around and it seems like everything's gone wrong.

You expect God to have done something and he hasn't done it.

In today's story, we see just how bad things have become in ancient Israel.

In the place where you expect to see the most goodness and godliness and love, you just see evil in the people.

You expect to be the best at trusting God and helping other people trust Him.

We just see wickedness and sin.

But in the place where you least expect to find it in a person you never expected to look at, we see that God is about to do a wonderful work to save his people.

Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

At the end of our last episode, Hannah had left her young son Samuel at the tabernacle.

Remember, the tabernacle is the tent where people go to make sacrifices to God.

It was a bit like God's home on earth.

It reminded his people, the Israelites, that he lived with them.

The man in charge of the tabernacle is the high priest called Eli.

He is helped by his two sons, the priests Hophni and Phinehas.

The job of the priests is to be a sort of go between between God and the Israelites.

They would help the Israelites make sacrifices for their sins so God could keep living with them.

That is a massively important job.

If the people keep sinning but can't be forgiven by God, they are in deep trouble.

In chapter 2, verse 12 of 1 Samuel, we find out that the Israelites are in deep trouble.

We're told now Eli's sons were evil men.

They did not care about the Lord.

Oh no that's really bad for them, but it's also really bad for the Israelites, especially when you hear about what the priests are doing.

God had made a rule that when the Israelites sacrifice an animal to God, they should burn the fat on God's altar and then they should give some of the meat to the priests.

It's a way of making sure the priests are fed as they do God's work.

Even though Hophni and Phinehas get this special privilege, though, even though they get given this free food, they want more.

They don't just want the bits that they're meant to get, they want the bits that God's meant to get.

So when the Israelites come to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to God, the priests would just take whatever they want.

And if the Israelites complained, well, things got pretty nasty.

In verse 15, we're told even before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come to the person offering sacrifices.

The servant would say, give the priest some meat to roast.

The priest won't accept boiled meat from you.

He'll only accept raw meat.

But the man who offered the sacrifice might say, let the fat be burned up first, as usual.

Then you may take anything you want.

If so, the priest's servant would answer, no, give me the meat now.

If you don't, I'll take it by force.

This is awful.

And God is watching.

The priests of God are being so disrespectful to God, and they're making it really hard for the Israelites to serve their God.

I wonder what God will do.

Meanwhile, at the tabernacle, there's someone who's not a priest, but who's dressed like a priest.

Someone unexpected.

This is the boy Samuel.

And unlike Hophni and Phinehas, Samuel obeys the Lord.

Every year, his mum and dad would come to Shiloh to sacrifice to God.

And his mum, Hannah, would bring a new coat for him.

Verse 20 tells us this.

Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife.

Eli would say, may the Lord repay you with children.

Through Hannah, they will take the place of the boy Hannah prayed for and gave back to the Lord.

Then Elkanah and Hannah would go home.

And you know what?

God does?

Give Hannah more children.

Even though when we first met Hannah, she couldn't have any.

We now God gives her three more sons and two daughters.

He's looked after her and cared for her in wonderful ways.

And her first son, Samuel, grows up serving the Lord at the tabernacle, which is really weird because all priests are Meant to be from the tribe of Levi.

Samuel isn't from the tribe of Levi.

He's from the tribe of Ephraim.

How strange that he's so keen to follow God when the priests Hophni and Phinehas couldn't care less about God.

Well, Eli, the high priest, is very old and he hears about all the dodgy things his sons are doing.

As well as stealing the meat from people's sacrifices, they're also treating the women who work at the tabernacle really badly.

So Eli decides to warn his sons.

In verse 23, he says this.

The people here tell me about the evil you do.

Why do you do these evil things?

No, my sons, the Lord's people are saying bad things about you.

If someone sins against another person, God can help him.

But if he sins against the Lord himself, no one can help him.

But Hophni and Phinehas don't listen to the warning because God's decided to put them to death.

And a part of their punishment is that they won't ask for forgiveness, so God won't save them from death.

Samuel, though, keeps growing and keeps pleasing God and people.

One day, a man of God comes to Eli, a prophet who has a message from God for Eli.

He reminds Eli of the great honour and privilege he has to be a priest.

He also says that Eli's done very little to stop his sons from doing all that evil.

In fact, he's actually been joining them by eating some of the stolen food.

The man says in verse 27.

This is what the Lord says.

I clearly showed myself to the family of your ancestor Aaron.

This was when they were slaves to the king of Egypt.

I chose them from all the tribes of Israel to be my priests.

I wanted them to go up to my altar to burn incense and to wear the holy vest.

I also let the family of your ancestor have part of all the offerings sacrificed by the Israelites.

So why don't you respect the sacrifices and gifts?

You honour your sons more than me.

You become fat on the best parts of the meat the Israelites bring to me.

Here's what the Lord, the God of Israel says.

I promised that your family and your ancestors family would serve me forever.

But now the Lord says this, that will never be.

I will honour those who honour me, but I will take honour away from those who do not honour me.

The time is coming when I will destroy the descendants of both you and your ancestors.

No man will grow old in your family.

You will see trouble in my house.

Good things will be done to Israel but there will never be an old man in your family.

I will save one man to serve as priest at my altar.

He will wear out his eyes and use up his strength.

The rest of your descendants will die by the sword.

I will give you a sign.

Both your sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will die on the same day.

Woah.

God is seriously angry.

He hates how Eli and his sons have treated him.

And there's no more escape for them.

They should never have messed with God.

But even though God's going to get rid of these guys, it doesn't mean he's going to leave his people without a priest.

In fact, God's going to raise up a loyal priest, a faithful priest, A priest who will do what God wants.

God says in verse 35, I will choose a loyal priest for myself.

He will listen to me and do what I want.

I will make his family strong.

He will always serve before my appointed king.

Umm, hang on a second.

Who's this king God's talking about?

Israel doesn't even have a king at this stage.

And who's the priest going to be?

This priest who'll actually listen to God?

Could it be that the new priest is hiding in plain sight?

Samuel is serving the Lord under Eli.

Eli is getting really old and he's starting to become blind.

One night, Eli is lying down to sleep.

Samuel's also lying down.

He's in the Tabernacle, the Lord's special tent where the Ark of the Covenant is kept.

Suddenly, God calls out to Samuel.

You might think this sort of thing happens all the time in the Old Testament, but it doesn't.

Samuel thinks he knows who's calling, but he gets it completely wrong.

He jumps up out of bed and says, I am here.

And he runs off to Eli and says, I am here.

You called me.

Have you ever woken up your parents in the middle of the night?

Have you ever done it for absolutely no reason at all?

This is a bit like that.

Eli's sound asleep, and when Samuel comes barging in, he's like, I didn't call you.

Go back to bed.

So Samuel goes back to bed.

How strange.

Then God calls a second time, Samuel.

And again Samuel jumps up out of bed and runs to Eli.

He's a very faithful servant and he always leaps into action.

He says to Eli, I am here.

You called me.

Can you imagine how Eli's feeling now?

He says in verse six, oh, I didn't call you.

Go back to bed now.

Samuel's never had God call him like this before.

He's got no idea what's going on.

So a third time, God calls out to Samuel.

And a third time, Samuel leaps out of bed, runs to Eli and says, I am here.

You called me.

Finally, Eli wakes up and realises what's going on.

He realizes that the Lord is calling Samuel.

He tells Samuel, go to bed.

If he calls you again, say, speak, Lord, I am your servant and I am listening.

So Samuel goes back and lies down again.

And a fourth time, God calls out, samuel, Samuel.

Finally Samuel replies, speak, Lord, I am your servant and I am listening.

Phew.

The message God has for Samuel isn't a happy one.

He tells Samuel that everything he said about punishing Eli and his family, it's about to happen.

In verse 11, the Lord says, see, I am going to do something in Israel.

It will shock those who hear about it.

At that time, I will do to Eli and his family everything I promised.

I will not stop until I have finished.

I told Eli I would punish his family forever.

I will do it.

Because Eli knew his sons were evil.

They spoke against me, but he did not control them.

So here is what I promised Eli's family.

Your guilt will never be removed by sacrifice or offering.

Imagine hearing you could never be forgiven.

The next morning, Eli wants to ask Samuel what God said.

And Samuel's like so.

In verse 17, Eli says, what did the Lord say to you?

Don't hide it from me.

May God punish you terribly if you hide from me anything he said to you.

So Samuel tells him everything.

And what do you think?

Do you think Eli bursts into tears?

Do you think he tears his clothes in sadness?

Do you think he falls on his knees and prays to God, begging for mercy?

That's what he should do.

But instead he just says, he is the Lord.

Let him do what he thinks is best.

Umm, Eli, did you actually hear what's going to happen?

Is that your only response?

Eli's response tells us a lot about Eli.

Even though he sounds like he's on God's side, saying God should do what he thinks is best, he actually doesn't really care about God.

He isn't worried about God punishing him.

It's kind of like he doesn't even really believe God.

Eli really is a useless priest.

But God has plans to give Israel someone much better.

Someone who will really believe God, someone who will really help his people.

And that person is Samuel.

In verse 19, we're told this.

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up.

He did not let any of Samuel's messages fail to come true.

Then All Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew Samuel was a prophet of the Lord.

And the Lord continued to show himself to Samuel at Shiloh.

He also showed Himself to Samuel through His Word.

Even though things looked really bad, even though really evil people were meant to be serving God, even though Israel had these really horrible leaders, God had already been growing Samuel to do a much better job.

It reminds me of another time around the first Easter.

The high priest then Caiaphas, was really evil.

He couldn't even recognise that God the Son had come into the world.

Jesus Christ.

In fact, he wanted to kill God the Son.

And yet God had already prepared a much better high priest.

A perfect high priest who always listens to God the Father.

Jesus is that great high priest.

He's the one who helps us by making the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

He offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins so we could be forgiven and join God's family.

If you ever feel like everything's gone wrong and bad people are always winning, remember God is always working to do what's best.

Remember, God sent us Jesus, our great high priest, the perfect priest, to bring us to God.

Meanwhile, back in Israel, the drums of war are beating, armies are marching out to battle.

The Philistines are about to attack.

But that's a story for next time.

Friends, I hope you're finding this series really helpful and the podcast as a whole.

I hope that it's really helping you to know God better.

It takes a bit of time and energy to put these things together and time costs money.

I wonder if you'd consider being a financial donor.

At the moment, I'm getting about 30% of what I need to keep going and people have been very kind who have given.

But I wonder if you would consider that as well.

If you can't, don't worry.

They're all there ready for you to listen to keep trusting Jesus.

Bye for now.