1 Sam 2:26 Favor With the Lord CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

1 Sam 2:26 says that Samuel was in favour both with the Lord and also with men.  This is a very important verse of scripture with very important implications for us.  The brief outline of this very important broadcast is:

As a Christian:

Favour with the Lord precedes favour with men – Look at the wording of the verse and compare it to the same thing that was said about the Lord in Lk 2:52.  The best way for a Christian to have favor with men is to first have favor with the Lord.  If you are out of favor with your family, employer, spouse, etc. then get in favor with the Lord first.  See Prov. 16:7.

Favour with men should never precede favour with the Lord – Politicians, pastors, and others leaders are prone to put favor with men ahead of favor with God and that may work temporarily, but in the end it has disastrous results.  For one thing, men are very fickle.  Paul would never do this, Gal 1:10.  Saul, the king, on the other hand, was more concerned about his favor with men that with God and it ruined him, 1 Sam 13:11, 15:24.  The Pharisees were like Saul, Jn 12:43.

Favour with God may put you out of favour with men – It certainly put Jesus Christ out of favor with the men of Israel who cried, “We have no king but Caesar” and “Crucify him.”   Paul found himself out of favor with everybody late in his life, 2 Tim 4:16.  David, the man after God’s own heart fell out of favor with his wife, Michal [1 Chr 15:29], with his king, Saul [1 Sam 18:11-13], and with his general, Joab [1 Ki 1:5-7].

Favour with the Lord may not always be favorable – To maintain favor with the Lord, Jesus had to suffer [Heb 5:8-9], Stephen was stoned to death, the apostles were martyred or exiled, and so forth.  Nevertheless, we have the great promise of Rom 8:28 that although some of the individual circumstances of maintaining favor with the Lord are not favorable, the cumulative outcome is “good.”

Favour with God will always be profitable – The men who maintain favor with God are well rewarded in the end.  You’ll see a better result at the judgment seat of Christ.  While  David suffered as king as a result of being a man after God’s own heart, he, and not any other, will be the king during the millennial reign of Jesus [Ezek 37:24].