1 Samuel 2:17-18, “17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. 18 BUT Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child, …”
I believe parents have one of the most difficult challenges in raising children. The moment a child is born, the Christian parents raise their children the best they know how in light of God’s word. Still they do not know how their children will turn out to be as they grow older. I think parenting is exciting at the same time very scary. In as much as parents hope and pray that their children turn out right, there is a wonder and fear inside. I am not a parent yet but I am beginning to think and wonder, how will my children turn out to be when God blesses us with them? No one encounters with the end results, only the process.
Eli served God as a judge for 40 years. He had a successful ministry but a broken home. He had two sons Hophni and Pheneas. Both sons were to be priests but they were worthless, corrupt men who promoted prostitution, abhorred the offering of the Lord and refused to heed to their father’s teachings, rebuke and advice. What a disappointed father Eli was that in spite of being successful in ministry, he had failed as a father and God held him accountable for it. He lacked the firmness to control his sons. Two sons had gone bad and their father had no son to be proud of. The bible says, vs. “17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord”. I do not think Eli ever imagined his sons turning out this way but they did. Vs. 18, “ BUT Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child, …”. In spite of Eli’s sons gone wrong, there was but a young child Samuel who ministered before the Lord. In the midst of looking around and seeing children going against God and are being disobedient to their parents and to authority, I am reminded of “BUT” word. It tells us God is still raising children in the midst of bad things happening around. Children like Samuel who will grow in the fear and the knowledge of God because they were prayed in and prayed through. God’s hand is upon their lives because their parents prayed for them and commended them to God’s hands. They did the best and left the rest in God’s able hand. Parents cannot change the hearts of their children, God can.
Let us make a few steps back and understand how Samuel came into the picture. Samuel was born in an answer to a tearful prayer of his mother Hannah. Let this be a reminder to you that it is not too late or too early to pray for your child (children), I am a firm believer of it. I do not have children but I have begun praying for them and praying them through. Praying that one day God will give and begin to use them at their young age like Samuel. Eli prophesied the birth of Samuel and when he was young, he came to minister with Eli to the Lord in the temple. Samuel’s mother prayed him in and prayed him through. Her desire was for the Lord to bless and use the blessing. That God’s hand would be upon her God given gift. She was offering back to the Lord what came from Him, a son. This is a prayer all Christian parents should offer to God.
God told Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” There are four “I”s in direct link to God to show how God’s hand was in the process from the time He thought of Jeremiah, to forming him, to sanctifying him, to calling him. Only God who gave them knows their beginning to their end, therefore He can be trusted with what He gives and that is by praying them in and praying them through saying, “Lord I commend them to you”. blessings Ev
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- Commend All To God, Part 2of2, by Evans Olang (magnifyhisword.wordpress.com)
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