Responsible to respond - 1 Samuel 1-5

Why do preachers always focus on the bad things? They are not alone in this particular habit (teachers tend to notice the one question you missed and not the twenty you answered right ... and don't get me started on police officers who notice the "one time" you are speeding). In the section we read today we have so many positive stories: Hannah willing to give her son up to God for service; the son (Samuel) being willing to listen to God; a husband treating his wife as an equal in the marriage; and, so much more. But, here I am focusing on the negative of the story: Eli refuses to stop his sons. Maybe because it is so easy to pick on Eli. He was the high priest of the day. He was the spiritual leader of the land. Yet, his two sons decided to become rebellious and loose with the priesthood. I know how easy it is to pick on the preacher and the preacher's kids. I have lived that life on both sides for many, many years. However, the story we have here is not so much on the behavior of the kids as it is on the one responsible to correct, or at least, speak out about the behavior. The two sons were disobeying God's Word in regard to sacrifice and much, much more (2:12-17). Eli did little outside of a verbal rebuke (2:24). He was supposed to remove them from service. Instead Eli actually got fat off their disobedience (2:29). And, that is what caused God's judgement (3:13). God will judge for not taking action when it is your responsibility to do so. Eli suffered because he did not take action on his sons who served God. He may not have been able to correct their behavior and their faith, but he did have authority to correct where they practiced that behavior. Eli failed to practice his part. That is a lesson we must see, even in the midst of all the positive lessons around him.