The Side Effects of Sitting Down on God - Pastor Stacey Shiflett
- Pastor Shiflett
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
The Side Effects of Sitting Down on God
1 Samuel 1:9; 4:13
Intro: Sitting down is a picture in the Bible of several things.
1. Rest – Jesus sitting on the right hand of God; His redemptive work was finished.
Heb. 10:11, 12
2. Rebellion – Psalm 1 “…sitting in the seat of the scorner…
3. Relaxation/Retirement – our text -1 Samuel 1:9; 4:13
NOTE: There was no chair in the Tabernacle!
There is no time to sit down on God.
Every time you see Eli, he’s either sitting down or laying down in the bed.
I believe this is symbolic of Eli’s spiritual frame of mind; one where he sat down on God and quit.
Couple of things that is interesting about this.
1. He sat down on God and was still in the temple.
2. He sat down on God while he was still in leadership.
3. He sat down on God and his family was in leadership.
4. He sat down on God and was mentoring the next generation of leaders.
QUOTE: Someone once said: “The opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference.”
Eli sat down spiritually a long time before he sat down physically.
Many people clock out mentally and spiritually and stay that way.
One tombstone read, “Died at 30; buried at 70.”
They started out walking with God; believing God; worshipping God, and then they just sit down.
QUOTE: “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings.” – Hellen Keller
NOTE: If you decide to sit down on God – there will be a price – there will be side-effects.
A. He Sat Down on God as a Parent
· 1 Samuel 3:13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
B. He Sat Down on God as a Preacher
1 Samuel 3:1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
C. He Sat Down on God as a Priest
1 Samuel 3
· 2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
· 3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was,
Leviticus 24
· 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
· 2 Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.
· 3 Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations.
· 4 He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually.
D. He Sat Down on God as a Protector
1 Samuel 4
· 10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
· 11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
I. It will Affect your Familiarity
With…
A. The People of God – 1:3, 7 – this was a faithful family, and he didn’t know them
B. The Prayer Life – 1:10-13 – she was praying, but he didn’t recognize it as prayer
C. The Pain of Others – 1:10, 16 – she was in severe distress, and he couldn’t tell
D. The Plan of God – 3:1, 17 – he had to depend on others to tell him what God wanted
E. The Precepts of God – 3:21 – God no longer revealed His Word to Eli – and he didn’t seem to care
II. It will Affect your Faith – 4:13 …his heart trembled for the ark…
· 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Instead of being confident, or emboldened by the ark of God, he was afraid of what would happen to it.
The Ark of God represented…
A. God’s Power
B. God’s Presence
C. God’s Provision (manna, mercy seat, rod that budded)
III. It will Affect your Focus – 4:15
He was not just going blind physically, he was going blind spiritually as well.
· He was oblivious to the sins of his sons.
· He was oblivious to the seriousness of his failure to restrain them.
· He was oblivious to the Word of God.
· He was oblivious to the risk he was putting Samuel in as a young man entrusted into his care.
He was old, but that had no impact on Moses.
Contrast Deuteronomy 34:7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
· He was watching, but he could not see. (vs. 13)
· He could hear tumult and noise – he was confused. (vs. 14)
· He knew something was going on, but didn’t know what it was.
· Reminds me of 3:17 where he knew God had spoken, but didn’t know what He had said.
· He was the last one to know that God’s presence and power was gone – 4:13, 14
IV. It will Affect your Family – 4:17
He lost both of his sons in the same day.
NOTE: He had been warned way back in 2:34 and still made no changes in his parenting.
They had been in leadership and knew the “rules” and “regulations” but he lost them!
He was the last one to know about his kids – 2:23, 24 I hear of our evil dealings by all this people.
V. It will Affect your Future
3:14 – the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged forever.
His grandson – his legacy – his heritage, was named Ichabod – “the glory is departed.”
They lived 20 years before he ever saw the ark that was stolen the day he was born.
1 Samuel 7:2 And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.
Conclusion: Notice in 1 Samuel 1:9, he is sitting by a POST.
He was propped up against the thing that was holding things up.
A sign you are sitting down on God is when you are no longer being used to UPHOLD the house of God, but rather those that are UPHOLDING the house of God are having to prop you up also.
You can’t afford to sit down on God!
Stay faithful – stay in the fight – stay engaged!
There’s too much at stake!