"THE FEAR OF THE LORD"
Hannah's barrenness coupled with her enemy vexing her soul produced intercession that gave her a son, Samuel, who she put in the house of a backslidden priest with his perverse sons to live.
Doesn't seem a very loving thing to do, that boy is going to have some issues, rejection, abandonment, sure got some potential for abuse in that house. For sure this is not a very healthy spiritual environment to raise your kid in. Don't neglect to notice, the intercession that put him there continued year by year as Hannah kept him covered.
But, Samuel does not belong to Hannah, she gave him to the Lord. When you give something to the Lord, he dictates the terms of rearing for His purposes, not ours.
It was in this environment God was positioning His transition Prophet, training Him, calling him, letting him experience the environment of evil spiritual decline. Eli the Priest was dim-of-eye(lost his vision), and heavy of flesh. He would not correct his sons for dishonoring the Lord's sacrifices, nor for defiling the women who came to the temple to seek help.
Often before He is going to bring in His ways, he lets us taste deeply the ways he is going to transition us from. Think of Saul and David, He wants His people to be as fed up with the sin, compromise, and hypocrisy as He is.
Samuel learned the ways of the Priesthood, but He was a Prophet, He was a Prophet that was going to transition Israel from the era of Judges to Kings, and then He was going to transition them from mans choice for King to God's choice. It was said of Samuel that not one word he ever spoke fell to the ground and both ears of those who heard him prophesy would tingle.
REMEMBER: Samuel was in the House of Eli when God wrote Ichabod over it, "The Glory Has Departed".
I declare to you today that God has also in our day, positioned His transition Prophets in His House. Soon it will become evident that God has departed from most of the so-called Spirit-Filled ministries, the man appointed apostle and prophets quagmire. The self-exalting worship merchandisers, the motivational merry-makers, and the mega-hucksters.
His transitions prophets have lived in this flesh-fest for more days than they can stand and they feel the grief and disgust of the Almighty, without carrying criticism in their hearts. We are now about to move into the new move of God primarily known as the "Fear of the Lord" awakening, Gods house will once again become the Dreadful and Awesome place Jacob prophetically envisioned in Gen 28, it literally is the place where heaven and earth meet. It's built on a "Threshing Floor" where the Holy Ghost and fire thresh out the chaff and burn it with unquenchable fire.
The Fear of the Lord will come forth with many immediate and sudden unusual manifestations of God's power and glory. Many will rise against it, those who have created a false vision of who God and His Christ are. For some of them, it will be a costly mistake. And into this, as it was in the beginning days of the church, God will daily add to His church in a final end-time-harvest.
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. II Cor. 7:1
Perfecting Holiness in the "FEAR of GOD"!
"Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil." Prov. 3:7
"In mercy and truth, Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil." Prov. 16:6
"The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether." Psa 19:9
Holiness cannot be completed, cannot be matured, cannot reach its goal, cannot finish its work in believers without the FEAR of the Lord.
We have become so familiar with the god we have made in our image and likeness we are not too overly impressed with (him). We have made him a kitty cat that purrs, not the Lion that Roars. If He becomes a little too uncomfortable for us we just make some adjustments to keep Him tame.
We have forgotten it is a "fearful" thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We don't have to work out our salvation with "fear and trembling" for it is God, the Awesome Almighty God who works in us to will and do of his good pleasure. We don't need to be bothered with maintaining the time of our sojourn here with fear. No, because God is Love and we have his Grace, we forget Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. We also forget God who is Love is also Just, and we must ALL stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Not to worry we have made that just a rewards ceremony, you know just a big graduation bash. Except for Paul tells us in the next verse, knowing the "Terror" of the Lord we persuade men.
" Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences." II Cor. 5:9-11
Is it any wonder the unsaved people have no fear of God before their eyes and unashamedly parade their perversions and twisted human behavior in the streets and on the screens of our world. There was a time when they would not dare thumb their noses at God with such an arrogant and impudent look. Don't think because it seems that God does not care, He does, but judgment begins in the House of God.
I tell you by the Word of the Lord in Malachi 3:2-3 "He is Coming, the Lord of Hosts is coming! But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness."