Vision Comes to Life

 

    To have a vision is amazing quality.  You may see real ambition, but just because you can see it does not guarantee it will happen.  It usually takes work and we may not know how to get from point a to point b.  However, a vision that comes from God, good or bad, is guaranteed to happen.  The only way it would not was if God was using it to show you what would happen if things did not change.

    Years went by after Samuel had the vision of Eli's family falling and Israel's change.  The Israelites went to fight the Philistines and lost 4,000 men.  They became determined, so they got the ark and went to fight them again.  If you use something of God's as good luck charm or a protective token, then you could be betting your life.  They should have gone to God, then they would have been victorious.  Instead they lost 30,000 men.

    The Philistines took the ark of the covenant with them.  Hopni and Phinehas had been with the ark when they died.  Eli was 98, blind, and overweight.  He was sitting by the road to hear of any news.  When he heard that his sons were killed and the ark was taken, he fell backwards breaking his neck.  He knew how his sons were going to die, but the ark was too much for him.

    Eli had been the spiritual leader to the nation for 40 years when he died.  Phinehas' wife was pregnant.  The shock of his death, her father-in-law's death, and the captured of the ark caused premature labor.  Her grief killed her moments after she gave birth.  Her son was named Ichabod, which means God's glory departed Israel.

    Not all visions are pleasant.  Not everything seen for the future are desired.  Unfortunately, we live in a world where evil has a strong hold.  Things are not always going to work out the way we want.  There is not always going to be a happy ending.  All we can do it pray specifically for the vision that we want and make the personal changes that need to be made.

1 Samuel 4