BE IT FAR FROM ME
Our God is unchangeable God of Hosts. As he was yesterday so he is today and will be tomorrow. Whatever he has said in righteousness shall not return unfulfilled.
Yet God can sometime change his mind on an issue. How and why? I will bless you said the Lord is not an automatic ticket to blessing. You will have to work and walk your way to the promises of God.
I will bless you said the Lord to Abraham. The latter had to work and walk perfect with God to earn the blessing which grew from his generation to Isaac, Jacob and till date. Abraham's faith was rigorously tested and he was found faithful. 'By myself have I sworn, said the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.
'And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou has obeyed my voice.' Gen 22:16-18.
God's blessing is predicated upon obedience to God's commandment. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear the Lord God. Psm 115:13. He will bless them that fear him both small and great. There is mercy for those that fear him Psm 103:11 'for as the heaven is high above so is His mercy towards them that fear him.'
For those who fear the Lord, it shall be well with them Ecc. 8:12b - 'It shall be well with them that fear God' and 'He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him. He also will hear their cry and will save them from their troubles.' Psm 145:19 And there is long life for them that fear the Lord Prov. 10:27.
But Eli had no fear of the Lord at heart. The Lord had made him a Pastor. The Lord had assured him of an everlasting lineage of priesthood; a position that demanded holiness and faithfulness to the Lord in absolute terms. Alas! High priest Eli could not discipline his children. Eli's children were wayward- sleeping with women who come to offer sacrifices unto the Lord. And the Lord God changed his mind and declared: 'I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, be it far from me, for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
'Be hold the days come, that I will cut off thine arm and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. 'And thou shall see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever; 'And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.'
'And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons .On Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.
'And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind, and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.' And it shall come to pass that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say put me, I pray thee, into one of the priest's offices that I may eat a piece of bread.' I Sam 2:30-36.