I Samuel 2
Wednesday, 5th July 2023
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Chapter two started with a prayer, a worship from Hannah to respond to God who did great work in her life. She was willing to give thanks and to recognise how God responded to her prayer, she knew her joy was from God. Where does our joy come from? The things of this world or simply from God? Hannah also said that her horn was exalted by God, her strength was from God. God gives us strength, everything we have and everything we can do is from God, what is our attitude? Hannah knew her mouth was opened to the enemy, she knew she had to proclaim to the enemy so they will not longer disturbed. The lies we hear cannot control us anymore, God is our salvation, we must proclaim the truth with our mouth and we can overcome all the impossible things.
Hannah knew people’s words cannot influence her, they cannot control her, only God was her salvation and only. Nothing in this world can replace God, what is in front of us that stops us to seek God instead of relying on our own strength? Can we pray like Hannah that we will no longer speak the words of boasting? God is looking at us from above. We don’t work by our strength, the bows of the mighty men will be broken because they don’t rely on God. We can’t see the situation in our lives and we are not willing to see that we have failed, we thought we are good enough, we thought we have done enough. When we stop seeking God, when we don’t align with God, we try to control our action with our head, and we will start to grow tired. We will not see God and we cannot feel the love of God.
God has led us out of Egypt, the land of slavery, so we can rely on Him wholeheartedly. When we are in the wilderness we have nothing and that’s when we can really humble ourselves. God can turn death into life. He can revive us, in 2023, God wants us to arise and shine, in difficult times we must let go and align with God. God wants us to be uplifted, He has a great plan for us. Do not try to fight for ourselves God will speak for us, we just need to align with Him. Hannah’s prayer gives the breath of the Tree of Life but on the other hand, the high priest Eli aligned not with God but with his sons.
Eli’s sons were wicked, when the Israelites were trying to follow God’s laws, the sons of Eli were trying to manipulate these laws to benefit themselves. They despised the offering of people, and God talked to Eli. Eli didn’t do what he was appointed to do as high priest, he allowed his sons to take over and to do wicked things. Eli was not in the house of God, he didn’t not stand in his poisons. When he heard what his sons had done, he did not rebuke his sons but said it was the sins of people. Eli didn’t teach his children, he didn’t align with God and he didn’t come close to God.
God told Eli that his sons had committed great sins, but when Eli did not align with God and didn’t listen to God, then he didn’t realise how much sins his sons were committing. We must awake our spirit, when we pray in tongues, we can stir up our spirit and let the Holy Spirit guide us in prayer. We must awake our spirit, we are asleep within us, and we must let the fire in our spirit burn! We should continue to keep the fire of prayer going, don’t let it cold down, don’t let our relationship with God cold down.
Let us humble ourselves, let our prayers wake up our asleep spirit, set apart our mouth at the beginning of the day, so for the rest of the day we can speak the words of encouragement and the words of authority. Why can’t we pray it out? What is stopping to pray it out loud? Let us don’t learn from Eli. As Christian’s we are given the authority and the position as the royal priests, don’t take this for granted.
Eli was interacting with his head not his heart and not his spirit. So God spoke through a man of God. He told Eli that everything he had will pass away, and He will establish a new priest, who is after God’s heart and align with God. Don’t let our knowledge stop us aligning with God, stop us seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness. Then the blessing of God can flow freely like the Will of Abraham.
撒母耳记上 2
2023年7月5日 星期三
潘锡安牧师
V1 哈拿用祷告、敬拜赞美来回应神赐给她撒母耳。我们的“心”是靠什么快乐？是否被这个世界上会过去的物质所蒙蔽？我们的“角”是否被高举？我们想要为自己争取很多东西，但哈拿告诉我们，我们的力量不是因为别人而来，而是被耶和华高举。哈拿的“嘴”向仇敌宣告，说他们再不能影响她与神对齐，她全然享受在神的救恩里。哈拿知道自己能胜过一切不可能，胜过攻击她的人。
V2 世上没有任何人事物能与神比较，我们也无法用任何东西来代替耶和华，不然我们自己所建造的房子最终也会倒塌。
V3 耶和华看见也知道我们一切的言语作为。
V4 我们以为可以倚靠自己所拥有的东西，但神能将这些都折断，我们唯有倚靠耶和华神。
V5 我们看不到自己跌倒了，看不到自己的羞愧，不相信自己是不行的。我们所拥有的东西最后都会被拿走。哈拿承认自己“饥饿”，所以愿意等待神。我们若以为倚靠自己可以走下去，尝试用意志来控制自己的行动，最后反而会觉得“累了”，看到的只是规定、只是要用努力换取食物，看不到我们要单单倚靠神。哈拿看到原本有儿女的人反而因自己有儿女就不与神对齐，最后以致“衰微”。
V6 当我们明白真理后，才会看到是“耶和华使人死，也使人活；使人下阴间，也使人往上升”。我们不要在困境中继续跌落，而是在被攻击、情绪要爆发时学会放手，记起神要我们“往上升”。
V7-8 唯有神能够做到这一切，所以我们不要用自己的力量来为自己伸冤。让我们在一天开始的时候，用我们的灵先与神对齐。
V12 哈拿的祷告和敬拜给我们很大的正面影响，而有祭司位份的以利却没有像哈拿一样与神对齐，他与自己的儿子对齐。
V13-16 以利的两个儿子定出多余的规矩给以色列百姓，并没有让他们与神对齐，而是满足这两个儿子的私欲。
V17 以利的两个儿子用百姓献给神的祭物来为自己谋好处，这些神都看见，他必审判。
V18-21 神预备撒母耳来代替以利。
V22-25 以利身为大祭司，却让他的儿子来做自己该做的事，因为大祭司是很尊贵的位份，他却没有在圣殿中。以利听到两个儿子的事，不愿意斥责孩子，因为怕亲子关系破裂，就没有将真理说出来。以利自己本身就没有与神对齐，他只是靠自己的头脑来行事，看不到他的儿子所犯的罪何等的重。我们身为君尊的祭司，是否活出自己的位份？我们每天晨祷开始时是如何方言祷告的？我们的里面原本是沉睡、蒙蔽的，我们是否用方言祷告让我们的灵苏醒，让祭坛的火被烧旺？求神帮助我们的灵醒过来，不要用自己的头脑来操控我们的言行。
V26-29 以利没办法听到神的话，因为他只用自己的头脑来行事，于是神派神人来跟他说话。
V30-34 当我们没有与神对齐的时候，我们曾有的美好的东西都会过去。
V35 真正的祭司要与神对齐，他能听到神的心跳。
V36 神原本拣选的祭司若没有与神对齐，就会落到卑微的下场。让我们愿意谦卑下来，不求自己的国和义，而是先求神的国和神的义。