Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.” (1 Sam. 3:18)
ELI SURRENDERED TO THE LORD. The news was not good, but he accepted it as the God’s will.
Charlie Shedd liked his tobacco pipes, and smoking a pipe became one of his favorite diversions.
One day in a Christian bookstore, he saw a picture of the face of Jesus that he had never seen before. He liked it. Suddenly he sensed an inner voice saying, “Why not start a collection of ‘The Faces of Jesus,’ beginning with this one?”
He did, and hung several pictures in his study where he could see them every day. One day he heard that inner voice again: “In which of these faces would a pipe look good?”
He knew from that moment his pipes would have to go. On vacation, he took his pipe box and rowed to the middle of the lake. A half mile from his cabin, he dropped the box over the side. But the next morning, the pipes had washed up on the beach in front of his cabin.
Now he and the Lord had another conversation/argument. But the following morning, he rowed back to the middle of the lake and dropped them in, one by one. As they all sank, he said, “There you are, Lord. This time they’re yours.”
Whatever your temptation is, if He puts His finger on it, it’s always best to release it.
Take inventory of your life. If God puts His finger on anything, drop it.
Ron McClung lives in Fishers, Indiana, with his wife Carol. He has written his weekly column, Positive Perspective, for more than twenty-nine years.
© 2018 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
