As i shared with you before, John Bevere's book Under Cover is the 2nd Christian book i ever completed reading and it has changed my life tremendously. Inside the book there is a chapter whom a pastor (priest) treats a church member unfairly. The church member instead continued to honor her pastor, and her reward was tremendous!
This story is found in 1st Samuel:
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a woman called Hannah. She was married to Elkanah who had taken a second wife named Peninnah. Hannah was miserable because Peninnah taunted her everyday due to her barrenness. However, her husband Elkanah loved her very much, but Peninnah filled Elkanah's houshold with lots of children. So every year, Elkanah's household would travel to a place called Shiloh to worship God. And every year when they travel to Shiloh Peninnah would make fun of Hannah due to her barrenness until she wept. Hannah would cry and even her husband could not comfort her.
So one day in Shiloh, Hannah went to cry in the temple and made a vow to God. She told God: "Dear GOD, Please give me a child! If you give me a child, then I will give him back to you all the days of his life!"
And when she prayed, Eli the pastor(priest) of the temple and also as a judge of Israel came and murmured to himself: "I see her lips moving and there isn't any sound. This girl must be drinking and is now drunk". So he told Hannah: "Must you come here drunk? Throw away your wine!" (1 Sam 1:13-14)
Wow, what an insult! Not only was this pastor insensitive, he was also spiritually numb! Hannah came to cry before the LORD of Israel, only to be judged by an insensitive pastor thinking that she is drunk! How would you have responded if your pastor had accused you of doing evil at the moment of your greatest pain? Perhaps you would have thought: "Is this guy even a pastor? Worse still... he is the senior pastor? Doesn't he know that i'm fasting and crying out to God? what an insensitive, unspiritual jerk! I will NEVER step into his church ever again! You call yourself a man of God and can't recognize someone in pain! can't you recognize someone in deep prayer? What kind of pastor are you? What kind of church is THIS!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to find another church with a pastor who is sensitive to me and the things of GOD!"
However as we continue to read 1 Sam, Hannah's response was totally the opposite! "Oh no sir" she replied, "I'm not drunk! But i am very sad, and I was pouring out my heart to the LORD. Please don't think that i am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of anguish and sorrow." (vv15 - 16). Hannah responded in respect and honor. Hannah honored the position of authority on her life. She went as far to assure her pastor that she was not wicked.
Eli was a very judgemental pastor, but for Hannah, her focus was not on Eli's behavior but on her own. Hannah was someone who truly feared the Lord. If anything was wrong with the leader, God will deal with it. This true submission and Hannah's humility was the turning point in that story. This is how Eli answered Hannah.
"In that case, cheer up! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him" "oh thank you!" Hannah replied. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad. Hannah honored Eli as a man of God and even thanked him for his word of blessing. And the happy ending of the story comes... as Hannah went home, she slept with Elkanah and in due time she gave birth to a son!
God used an insensitive pastor to release the words to bring forth the conception of a promise. A closed womb was opened, and life came out of darkness. The following year Hannah held little Samuel in her hand, and Samuel would become a man who brought a great revival to the nation of Israel.
So thus, the amazing principal: when God places His authority on a person, no matter his private or personal behavior, we may still receive if we look beyond it and honor him as sent from God.Hannah understood the fear of the LORD and obtained a reward by honoring the authority placed before her. Jesus later confirmed this principal in John 13:20. It says "most assuredly I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives me"
So then, honor your spiritual leaders. for all authority comes from God(Romans 13). Rebelling against the authorities placed above you is equivalent to rebelling against God Himself!
