I Samuel 2:11-12 “And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.”
I Samuel 2 is the story of two contrasting families. You find Eli, the priest, and his two sons; and you find Hannah, a humble woman, with a young son. If you were to graph their lives, they would intersect at these verses.
It reminds me of the old riddle, “Which weighs more, a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks?” The answer is, of course, they both weigh the same. A ton weighs a ton, no matter what you are weighing. The truth of the matter is, the weight of your life is the sum of every feather-light decision. You see a contrast between two sons of the priest and the child of Hannah. Verse 17 says of Eli’s sons, “Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.” But a theme you find over and again in I Samuel chapter 2 is that Samuel “grew.” Verse 18 says, “But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.” (See also verses 21, 26, and 3:19.)
How is it that this young child “grew” but the two sons of the priest sinned “very great before the LORD”? It is simple: small decisions make up the weight of your life. Eli’s two sons were never restrained, and their life reflected that. Samuel continued to grow, and “the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.” (3:19) It is not how you were born, who you are, or what you have. Life is made up of the seemingly small decisions that, when compiled together, weigh a ton.
Samuel was just a kid-who was dedicated to the Lord-who made little decisions that were the right decisions. Quite frankly, Eli’s sons frighten me. Eli was a good man who served the Lord, but he lost his family. His sons grew up, but they did not grow up right. You will grow-the question is, which way?
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