Setting The Right Example

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders.The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”-1 Samuel 8:1-5

When Samuel was under the authority of Eli, the sons of Eli walked in the way of ungodly men. They lived wickedly and did not honor God or His temple and Eli their father allowed it to happen.He taught Samuel to conduct priestly duties, but failed in his duty as a father and as a priest to train his sons to walk in God’s ways 1 Samuel 2:22-31.

So here we are in 1 Samuel 8:1-5 and we read of the same thing happening. Samuel was the prophet, the judge as well as the priest in Israel.Due to his old age, he appointed his sons as judges but they did not fear God or walk in the ways of God as their father Samuel did.

What I pick in this text is that Eli failed to train his sons as well as Samuel and that is why the same thing is taking place again. It is an unfortunate situation to be in, where your mentor fails to teach you as they should and you end up doing things as they did that you were not meant to do.

Anyone who is mentoring another should be careful in their work that their failures do not become a thing that their mentees follow. As a mentor, the wisdom of God should be present in your life.

The Spirit of God should be your guide at all times. I believe if Eli had trained his sons in God’s ways, Samuel who was like a son to him would have learned how to train his own sons too.Also Samuel should have learned from Eli’s mistake but you find he devoted all his time in serving God as a judge, prophet and priest in Israel but failed to teach his sons to do likewise.Serving in ministry is important because the minister is usually serving God,but the family should not be neglected.There should be a balance between ministry and family.God has given us responsibilities to serve Him in our families as parents and spouses.Just as Joshua said in Joshua 24:15 " But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Lesson to be learned here is that God has called us to serve Him in all areas of our lives and we should put effort in those areas so that we are not found wanting in His sight.

It does not matter what role or title one has, God has given us blessings of ministry, family, parenting, career and we should diligently serve Him with reverence in all this areas, asking Him for grace, strength and wisdom to be faithful.