"Dead and Dying"

"The priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation." (Psalms 78:64) There are a few things in this life that get me excited, seeing evil being pushed back is one of them. We are what is commonly called the 'silent majority' because we don't raise our voices or take to the streets like those who are the progressive and worldly ones. It is much like when Elijah fled to Mount Horeb, thinking that he was all alone, saying, "I have been very jealous for you LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." (1 Kings 19:14) It sure can feel like we are outnumbered, and most of the time we are; but it's more about degrees of concern or involvement; those that get involved wonder why others won't, and those that don't, don't want to be bothered. If we are the majority, then it sure does not look that way, because we are being outnumbered on almost every issue. To the verse we have before us, I can't quite get this thought out of my mind as to whether "their widows made no lamentation" because they could not or they would not. It's hard to describe what I'm feeling, but it comes from mostly being an observer for so long, that I feel like we deserve what we get. I know that sounds a little like giving up, but it is exactly what I see is taking place. The answer is that they could not lament, because they knew they had it coming! If they did anything at all, they would just have given up and killed them self, having nothing left to live for. This is not just a sad reality, it is what it is because of the compromising life of the spiritual leaders; whether those be the priests and their roles in the church, or the husbands and their duties in the home. Quite honestly, if there is no example of spiritual leadership, what happens when the spiritual leader is gone...
""What is the noise about?" Eli asked. The messenger rushed over to Eli, who was ninety-eight years old and blind. He said to Eli, "I have just come from the battlefield -I was there this very day." "What happened, my son?" Eli demanded. "Israel has been defeated by the Philistines," the messenger replied. "The people have been slaughtered, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were also killed. And the Ark of God has been captured." When the messenger mentioned what had happened to the Ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he was old and overweight. He had been Israel's judge for forty years. Eli's daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near her time of delivery. When she heard that the Ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth. She died in childbirth, but before she passed away the midwives tried to encourage her. "Don't be afraid," they said. "You have a baby boy!" But she did not answer or pay any attention to them. She named the child Ichabod (which means, "Where is the glory?"), for she said, "Israel's glory is gone." She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and husband were dead. Then she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured."" (1 Samuel 4:14-22) NLT