I started digging into 1 Samuel again this week. The story of Hannah in chapters one and two is such a beautiful story, and it was also helpful to me in overcoming my selfishness/self-centeredness when God called my son to take a job over a thousand miles away last year. It was a time to give back to God what he had entrusted for a season.
Hanna had not been able to conceive. She wept bitterly as she prayed to God asking for a child. She promised that if God would give her a son, she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life.
God remembered Hannah, and she conceived and bore a son who she called Samuel which means “heard of God.” When Samuel was weaned, Hannah kept her vow to the Lord. She took Samuel to the temple, made a sacrifice to God and left her son with the priest. Then she prayed a prayer of praise and worship.
Hannah had waited so long to become a mother. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her to follow through with her promise after bonding with her little bundle of joy, but she kept her word. Now if Hannah, who had been childless, was able to see that her son was a gift from God and was able to praise God as she gave her son to be used by him all his life, shouldn’t I be able to give my son who I enjoyed for 22 years, over to God to be used by him the rest of his life? After all, I may have carried my son for nine months in my body, but it is God who knit him together in my womb (Psalm 139:13). I may have had plans for my son’s future, but all the days ordained for him were written in God’s book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16). I may have cared for my son and raised him to follow Gods ways, but God who began a good work in him is the one who will carry it on to completion (Philippians 1:6).
Children are a gift from the Lord, and I have received many blessings through the experience of raising four of them. I am thankful that God trusted me to take care of them when they were too small to take care of themselves, but ultimately, they were created by God to bring glory to him. I have found joy in nurturing them & encouraging them to become the people that God intended. However, their true purpose is found in God alone.
Just as God had a plan for Samuel to become a mighty leader, judge and prophet that would touch many lives for eternity, God had a plan for my son to touch many lives 1000 miles from home. He has a plan for each one of our children and each one of us, but we must be willing to give our lives to him and to give our children’s lives to him as well.
For more details on how this season of letting go and giving back has made an impact on my life, check out “Do You Love Me More? Part 1” and “Do You Love Me More? Part 2.” God is good!