day 4: rewards

(day 4 was actually on saturday, march 12th, which i did, but the blog is coming today - look forward another blog later today on day 5. *sundays, while i observe them as part of lent, are a day of worship and celebration that do not have a reading or a blog*)

"those who honor me i will honor."

1 samuel 2:30

at the beginning of every chapter (day) in this book is a verse, as i include on the top of the blogs. oftentimes, it is actually just a part of that verse, or parts of verses. this is understandable as he most likely intends to capture a main idea, but in his text he typically includes more or it. if not, at the end of the reading, he suggests to read a portion of scripture that captures more. that being said, "those who honor me i will honor" is not all that is said in 1 samuel 2:30. it is actually a small portion of a group of verses that the NIV titles 'Prophecy Against the House of Eli'. eli's sons continued to disobey God deliberately by cheating, seducing and robbing the people. eli had a hard time disciplining his sons for their actions even though he was aware of their behavior. this was problematic because he was more than a father with rebellious sons, but a high priest ignoring the sins of priests in his jurisdiction. in this way, he honors his sons above God. 1 samuel 2:30 is God taking the necessary action, "therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: 'i promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.' but now the Lord declares, 'far be it from me! those who honor me i will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.'

we reap what we sow. david nasser explains this through the 'law of the harvest: we reap what we sow, we reap more than we sow, we reap after we sow. what we sow can be good or bad - that is our choice. but whatever we chose to sow, will have consequences - what we reap. "if our goal is to be happy, thousand of obstacles will get in our way, but if our goal is to honor God, we can accomplish that goal no matter what circumstances we encounter." we can sow to please the sinful nature, or we can sow to please the Spirit. (galatians 6:7-9) when we sow to please the Spirit, we will reap an eternal harvest.

Lord, open up my eyes to ways in which i am selfishly sowing to please my sinful nature, and change my heart to sow to please the Spirit.