In May, I spontaneously picked up the book of I Samuel to study, and I shared some insights from my study here, although I did not finish the book as I had envisioned. Today, I will share some more. I also encourage you to pick up the Bible and do your study—feel free to challenge me or ask questions. I love “me” a wholesome conversation about the Word of God.
Let’s get into the stories, shall we? 🙂 So in I Samuel chapter 4, we see the life of a prophet of God come to an end, a sad end. His name was Prophet Eli, Samuel’s mentor. From previous verses, we can see ways in which the prophet and his family had fallen out of Grace with the Lord, so much so that the Lord stopped speaking to him, I perceive. In I Samuel chapter 3, we see how God disrupted little Samuel’s sleep to pass a message to prophet Eli. I sense that God perhaps had been speaking or had spoken to prophet Eli, but no action was taken. See what the Lord said to Samuel, “In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them – I Samuel 3:12-13. Prophet Eli’s response was or is alarming in my opinion for a man who walked with God. He said – “it is the Lord, let Him do what seems good to Him” – I Samuel 4:18.
This sounds like an exhausted man, one who had given up on life and the Lord perhaps….too sad, just too sad to see. I pray that none of life’s challenges take you away from the Lord; however, they would draw us closer to the Lord in Jesus’ name. Sadly, in I Samuel chapter 4, we see God’s word come to pass, Eli’s sons were killed at war, and the ark of the Lord was captured. As soon as he heard about the ark of the Lord, he fell backward, broke his neck and died. Now this is the part I find fascinating; I always say and I believe that every word in the bible was carefully curated for us to draw cogent insights over time with the help of the Holy Spirit. I Samuel 4:18 describes that Eli died that way because he was old and heavy. Perhaps heavy with the weight of sin the Lord was calling him and his family to repent from. In that space of study, I thought about Moses, and I went to check how his death was described. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 34:7 – Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim, nor his natural vigor diminished.Its as though Moses died in the natural form God had intended for him, without the extra weight. Although it was a journey for Moses, it seems as though he laid aside so many weights as he journeyed with the Lord.
I love how the Lord just confirms his teachings to me in many forms. In that space of study, I was reminded of Hebrews 12:1 and interestingly watched this movie that illustrated the rapture in relation to “laying aside every weight”. The actor illustrated how laying aside every weight makes a Christian light enough to be rapturable and it made so much sense. It is as though ensuring that we are fit and trim so the wind of God easily carries us at rapture or judgment versus someone who may be described to be old and heavy. All the dots were just connecting for me and I’d try my best to break it down in this post. Let’s dive in, I love how the Message Translation and The New Living Translation breaks it down to the tiniest bit – so I shall use these versions for this post.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us
Hebrews 12:1
This verse projects the images of a soldier or an athlete to my mind: as Christians, we’re likened to them—not in the physical sense, but in a much deeper, spiritual way. We are spiritual athletes competing for a crown with eternal value – I Corinthians 9:25-27. Moreover, we are spiritual soldiers standing firm against the schemes of the enemy by the power of God. These groups of people share one thing in common: the need to eat healthy and stay physically active in order to stay fit, burn excess fat that could hinder their optimal performance. You know what junk food is to a soldier or athlete, sin is to a spiritual warrior—both weaken and weigh one down when one is meant to be strong and ready. Hence, the Lord tells us to lay it all aside; every form of sin because indulging in it only slows us down, makes us to heavy to run the race of faith set before us. The Message translation takes it a notch further, breaks it down for us:
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Hebrews 12:1-3
- It starts off by pointing to us that our fathers and mothers of faith have gone ahead of us, cheering us on from heaven – screaming through God’s words that it is doable! We sure can run this race set before us, we sure can lay it all aside!
- It further tells us to do away with any form of spiritual fat: envy, lavisciousness, backbiting, fornication, adultery, pride and the likes… all of these are spiritual fat that only slows us down and blurrs our vision on the track.
- Our focus and gaze should constantly be on our Lord Jesus Christ who ran the same race as we are running right now. Look to Him, look at His life and take notes, learn of Him.
- This last portion of the verse, I love soooo much and I hope it encourages you to lay it all down. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he(Jesus) plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!