Eli

 In pursuit of the fathers that would be considered to be 'good fathers', we find a father that was pretty much a sorry excuse for one.

Not that he didn't serve God. He had done that. In fact, his two sons Hophni and Pineehas served in the Tabernacle. However, they didn't know God. They had disobeyed the law by keeping and eating meat from sacrifices that they were not given, along with other sins they should not have indulged in.

When reports got back to Eli, he rebuked their behavior but he did nothing to stop them. And so their sins were allowed to continue.

Because of this, Eli put them above God. And so, God had sent him a message through the prophet Samuel. God said because Eli had not taken action on his son's, he would cut short their time and allow them to be killed. Which they were, by their enemy, the Philistines. When Eli got word that his sons were dead, he fell off his seat and died of a broken neck.

God's judgement fell upon Eli's house. He had made some bad mistakes. And its a message to us today is as true for us as it was to Eli. And that is to bring our chidden up as God would have us do. But that doesn't always mean, that even though we do the best we can, our kids will turn out the way they should and not go off on their own way. However, let me point you to a verse that gives us hope.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

                              Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed evening!