Today, from Chuck Swindoll. Erosion. Nobody knew it.
No one could have predicted it. Cracks brought on by character flaws began to take their toll in our lives. A compromise here, an off-color statement there, and before you know it, that life, once standing tall and strong, begins to weaken and finally collapse.
Erosion. Even the strongest relationships are at risk. Without deliberate effort, without persistence and protection, even a healthy marriage faces the danger of erosion. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll invites us to scrutinize our most cherished relationships, to ensure that we use extra measures to fight against a natural demise. He's teaching from a passage in 1 Samuel, where we find a real-life illustration, and in fact, will take several minutes to carefully read the text before his message begins.
In the process, Chuck exposes what he calls the danger signs of marital erosion. You will observe as you grow through the Christian life that worship is always directed away from you and toward God. That explains why, in churches that have this figured out, where a theology of worship has been thought through, it is not an entertainment kind of ministry. It is a ministry designed to turn our attention away from ourselves, and even away from those who minister, as gifted as they may be, to play these instruments and sing these great songs.
All of it is designed not to entertain you or me, but to focus, really refocus our attention away from the sounds and noise and the drag of our culture and get our minds set straight again. It is all about God. It is not about us. It's not about you.
The focus is on Him. I think Charles Wesley understood that, and that may explain why he left in his legacy Psalm 7000 hymns, a number of which are still sung today. They're still extant.
They're still in use. They're still a part of our hymnody as the one we just sang. And to give you courage and encouragement, young mothers who are still bearing children, and you find yourself with more than you expected, Charles was, I think, 17th in a family of 19. We're all pleased that she didn't give up with the 15th saying, that's enough. We're grateful that she continued to have those young, and Charles, his brother John, gets more of the attention nowadays, but Charles has left his songs to be sung right to this day. Our worship would be incomplete without the reading of the Scriptures, and I invite you to turn to a section that you've probably not been in in a while.
It's not one of the better known. When you begin in Genesis, you work your way through the books of Moses, and then you have a couple of books of history, Joshua and Judges, and right there wrapped in those historical books is the work of Samuel first and second book of Samuel, followed by the kings and then the chronicles. This is usually where we stop reading when we decide we're going to read through the Bible in January 1. We get to Waldo begats and we think, well, maybe God can pronounce those words, but somehow I can't get through them.
But here we find housed some of the great truths for our times, though they occurred in just centuries, centuries ago. We're going to become acquainted with a family of Eli, a family that eroded right before his eyes. Let me read for you several sections of 1 Samuel, chapter 1, verse 9. Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh.
Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.
17. And then Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you, grant your petition that you have asked of him. She said, Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.
So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Then they arose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her. It came about in due time after Hannah had conceived that she gave birth to a son, and she named him Shemuel. It means asked of God. And she named him that because I have asked him of the Lord. Chapter 2, verse 11.
11. Then Elkanah went to his home at Ramah, but the boy, that is, Samuel, ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. Chapter 3, verse 10.
12. Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other time, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said, Speak, for your servant is listening. The Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel, at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he did not rebuke them. Finally, chapter 4, verse 15. Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see. The man said to Eli, I am the one who came from the battle line.
Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today. And he said, How did things go, my son? Then the one who brought the news replied, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people. And your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken. It came about when he mentioned the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died. For he was old and heavy.
Thus he judged Israel 40 years. Some of the hardest work we do in worship is prayer. And today, though I'm normally the one who leads in a time of pastoral prayer, today is a good opportunity for you to be a pastor. Today is a good opportunity for you to represent your needs as a believer who is a priest. Every believer in our era is a priest before God. We no longer go through a priest to reach our God. We know the Lord in our hearts. We're able to go before His throne boldly and trust Him with our need. So let's bow together. This is a great moment for you to unburden your heart, clear your mind, release your anxieties, express to Him your concerns, intercede on behalf of others, intercede on behalf of others. We have brought our praise today, our Father, in song, and and we have certainly listened as you have spoken to us in your word. Now we express to you our petitions.
Just as Hannah asked specifically, we as well ask specifically. We pray that you will meet needs that are deep and bring comfort and even encouragement in the midst of grief. We intercede for those who sit alongside and stand alongside those they love, whose lives are waning away.
The disease is taking its toll and the report from the physician is bleak. We pray that you will bring a ray of hope and encouragement, that you will get them through the difficulty of this day and the darkness of this night. Help them, our Father, as they release their loved ones to you for your better purpose in your providential plan.
Watch over us as a people, our Father. We're helpless. We carry no weapons. We aren't big enough to fight the masses. We often don't even know where the attack will come from.
Certainly we do not know where the adversary will strike next. So we place ourselves behind your shield, our strength and our defender. Minister this day here and in places beyond here, where your word is proclaimed to give it freedom and effectiveness. May it make its mark in our lives, speak directly to each one of us today.
And may it may it penetrate beneath the veneer of all rationalizations and may we take it personally and as a result respond. Now our Father, our worship continues as we give to you. May it not be a perfunctory act, not just another religious event, may it not be a religious event, but may this time of giving continue our worship as we refocus ourselves on you, your plan, your will and the progress of your work. Watch over this church as these funds are used. May they be used wisely and well. Now we give gratefully and generously and joyfully in the name of Jesus, our Savior, and everyone said amen.
Erosion is a treacherous thing, probably because you don't know what's going on when all the while it is eating away, disintegrating, destroying, slowly, silently, subtly. There's a little township up north that took pride in a brand new red brick building they had anticipated for quite some time. It was designed to house the police department and the fire department and a few city offices as well as a meeting room for the citizens of that particular township. Finally it got built, excellent architect had designed it and engineered it, a superb craftsman had watched over the building of it and even the subcontractors had come from the area and they were all there for the parade and the ribbon-cutting occasion where they celebrated the completion of their brand new red brick building, the township building of that community. A couple of months passed and someone noticed as she was pulling down the window in her office one afternoon it wouldn't close.
It wasn't long before the talk at the water fountain was that their window didn't close either. Doors seemed ajar and dragged, they were no longer able to lock the building at night. Ominous cracks began to appear on the brick wall outside up two stories and finally some of the bricks began to fall. The building had to be condemned to the shock of the citizens and the dismay of the taxpayers. How in the world could this have happened? Good architect, excellent crew builders, all the right foundation plans in place. What was wrong? A study was made and they found that mining had been taking place some distance away and subterranean blasts, a part of the mining project, had begun to weaken the subsurface beneath where the building sat and in fact it was slowly sinking. Erosion.
Nobody knew it. No one could have predicted it and what and what happens in a building can happen also in a life. We begin well by coming first to the cross and we come to our Savior and acknowledge that there's nothing in ourselves we can bring and it's only by His grace that we're able to approach Him and take His offer of eternal life by faith. We start our life with Him. By and by in the process of time, cracks brought on by character flaws that are unsuspected and undetected by others widen, begin to take their toll in our lives. A compromise here, an off-color statement there, and some contamination from here. And before you know it, like in the case of King Saul, that life once standing tall and strong begins to weaken and finally collapse.
Erosion. What can happen in a building and what can happen in life can occur in a family. Every couple begins at an altar or before the justice of the peace and they stand and say all the right words. They're called their vows. We had a lovely wedding here just yesterday afternoon and one of our own staff members marries a lovely young lady who was a part of our Insight for Living ministry and it was just perfect. They said all the right things and several times my wife would squeeze my hand and maybe to remind me that's what we said way back then and then I nudged her and we all felt warm all over.
It was all just so good. Married starts like that, but as the bride and groom were reminded yesterday don't end this relationship. Don't let that happen.
Don't give up on this. Now why would the minister say that? Because he understands erosion, busyness, the whole time factor, the demands and deadlines, life being what it is before you know it, both are busy at their work, engaged even in ministry. A little slip here, a little slide there, and along come children. I've always found it interesting that brides and grooms and husbands and wives who think their lives are somehow difficult and having struggled, they think maybe having a child will help. That's the first step toward erosion when you begin the process of rearing the children and all that they bring and then there's not one, there's two and then there aren't two, there are four and then there aren't just four.
There are friends and there's schooling and there's all this stuff of life and before you know it, you've lost touch. And like that old folk song, the cat's in the cradle, it's gotten to be just like me, erosion. You may be surprised to know that that's not a new phenomenon.
It's happened since time immemorial. My Bible is open to an ancient book filled with the stories of what we would call ancient people who live very relevant lives. Here is a very responsible man, rearing not just two sons of his own, but now an adopted son whom the Lord brought to the mother in a very special way as we just read. But things begin to be unraveled. It occurred to me that there are erosion verses in the Bible.
Listen to a few. It was said of Samson in Judges 16-20, he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. How could you not know the Lord has departed from you? Well, if you'd lived the life Samson had lived in the latter part of his time, you can understand erosion.
He had gotten so used to operating without the Lord's power, it was all about Samson. Hosea the prophet ministered to a wayward group of people known as the people of Israel in the northern kingdom. And on one occasion, the Lord gave Hosea the prophet a word to give to the people, you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. That's an erosion. You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. That's an erosion verse. Hosea 8-7, you sow the wind, meaning what?
You're already moving in the wrong direction, and the more you move, the more rapid the wind, and the more the wind, the deeper the decline until you have eroded as you find yourself now. Jeremiah said similar words to the people of Judah. If you have run with the footmen and they have made you tired, what will you do when the cavalry comes? And if in a time of peace you trusted and couldn't make it, what will you do in the swelling or the jungle of the Jordan? If your walk is beginning to erode when days are peaceful, what will you do when jungle fighting comes?
And you gotta find yourself defending and you're too weak to fight. Probably the most familiar erosion verse is from Paul's pen. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, what? That shall he also reap. You sow to the flesh, the next verse says, you will from the flesh reap corruption.
That's an erosion verse. Eli did not know that it was eroding. I mean, he didn't know at the time.
It's silent, it's slow, it's subtle. There were no blasts of trumpets that were there. There was not a voice from heaven announced. He was just a deity, just busy about his work, laboring over the affairs of the tabernacle. In fact, he did it for 40 years, not only as a priest but as a judge. Means little to us today since we're not led so much by judges. But in those days, a nation was led by judges. That's where the book, just before Samuel gets its name, a list of judges who were the authority of the people, over the people. So Eli has a double job, the high priest, not just any priest, and the leading judge. So he's dealing with religious affairs and civic affairs and political affairs and the demands of this and the deadlines of that.
And before you know it, these boys sort of raise themselves, we say nowadays. Well, I hope this wets your appetite to join us all week long, because Chuck Swindoll will go much deeper on this topic. This is Insight for Living. I'm Chuck Swindoll, and I'm your host, for living.
And we're in the final stretch of his eight-part series that concludes this coming Friday. It's called Marriage from Surviving to Thriving. And to learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. The Scriptures are filled with the kind of counsel and advice we heard today.
In fact, nothing surpasses the wisdom offered in the Bible. And for husbands and wives, it's so important to consult the author of marriage. Along those lines, I'll remind you Chuck has written a book that dovetails with our current teaching series. It's more than 200 pages in length, and it's also called Marriage from Surviving to Thriving. Many have used this book in their small group Bible study or book club. And it's also a thoughtful gift for a young couple who needs encouragement as well. Chuck's book on marriage is available for purchase when you call us.
If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Or visit us online at insight.org slash offer. These daily programs are made possible because people like you give generous gifts. And through your support, people all over our country and even around the world are learning to place their trust in God.
For example, I was encouraged to read a recent note that read, I started listening to Pastor Chuck when I was in prison, and now seven years later, I'm clean and living my best life. Thank you, Pastor Chuck, and Insight for Living. Well, as one who financially supports Insight for Living, you play a significant role in providing this daily program to men and women like this one, who found a new life in Christ. So thank you for including this nonprofit ministry in those you support. To give a contribution today online, go to insight.org slash donate, or call us.
If you're listening in the US, dial 1-800-772-8888. Join us when Chuck Swindoll continues to expose the danger signs of marital erosion, Tuesday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, danger signs of marital erosion, was copyrighted in 2005, 2006, and 2022. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
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