On Sunday’s Message In The Series Your Kingdom Come What Is Wrong With The World? 1 Samuel 2:11 – 3:1

What is wrong with the world? And how do we fix it? Those are big questions to ask!

In 1 Samuel 2, we encounter some of the problem and some of the solution.

In this chapter, we encounter two brothers, Hophni and Phinehas, who are an example of how things can go wrong. And we encounter the young Samuel, who is an example of how things can go right when we are right with God.

Hophni and Phinehas were priests but yet disregarded God, and they refused to repent when found out. Samuel was becoming a priest and stayed close to God, and so grew in favour with the Lord and people.

Later in 1 and 2 Samuel, we will see a similar parallel—one king who got it wrong and one king who got it right.
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Saul, the first king, failed, not because he sinned but because he would not repent.

David, though deeply flawed, was still called “a man after God’s own heart. David failed like all of us, but he always turned back to the Lord in repentance.

So, in 1 and 2 Samuel, we will encounter both the broken stories of people but also a glimmer of hope, of how this world can be fixed.

Hophni, Phinehas, and Saul’s downfall warn us of prideful un-repentance; David has many, many problems, but he solves them because he repents.

Jesus, the true and greater Samuel, leads us into the Father’s presence and forgives us of our sins if we would repent from them and our own self-deception.

That’s how the world can be fixed.