In 1 Samuel 3 we read about the account of the LORD revealing Himself to Samuel. Basically, Samuel is sleeping and he hears who he thinks is Eli calling his name. Three different times Samuel hears his name and gets up and runs to Eli. After the third time Eli perceives that the LORD was calling Samuel so he told him to go lie down and say to the LORD next time, "Speak, LORD, for your servant hears." After this happens again the LORD goes on to tell Samuel that He is going to punish the house of Eli "forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God." From the text we know that Samuel was not too excited about revealing this information to his mentor, but Eli insisted so Samuel "told him everything and hid nothing from him." You would expect Eli to freak out a little about the pending doom facing him and his house "forever, forever, forever...." But, in a very matter of fact way he simply replied, "It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him." In the next chapter Eli, his sons, and his daughter in law all die.

So, what's the lesson here? What comfort can we draw from this? What do we learn about God? I know the Spirit may reveal something to you that He didn't to me, but here is what hit my mind. God does what He pleases and I should seek to do what pleases God. Just this morning I read Psalm 135:6 which says "Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps." God is God. He made it all and He can do whatever He wants. I think that's pretty comforting actually. I worry about things that might never happen. Eli was given rock solid evidence of what would happen. In either case, God is God. He will do what He pleases. Why is this comforting? Because God is good. He always does the right thing. Always.

The other thing that hit me was that I should seek to know what pleases God and do those things. Jesus said, "...the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise (John 5:19)." He also said "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work (John 4:34)." Jesus simply saw and knew what the Father was doing in the world and did likewise. Jesus also told us to do the same. He said "...As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you (John 20:21)." How do we do that? We get to know the Father through the Word and obey Him by staying connected to Jesus through prayerful dependence on the Spirit. And no matter what happens we echo Eli and say "It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him."

Travis