1S1-24: Your Children Are NOT Responsible For Your Happiness

“After the bull had been slaughtered, the child was brought to ‘Eli; and she said, ‘My lord, as sure as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here near you, praying to Adonai.  I prayed for this child, and Adonai has granted the request I asked of him.”-1 Samuel 1:25-27

The day had finally arrived for Hannah to turn over her one and only son to the priesthood.

I’m sure she was experiencing a flood of mixed emotions.

Happy that she was making good on her vow and dedicating her son back to the Lord as promised.

But also sad she would be separating from her boy forever.

Samuel couldn’t have been more than five years old at this time.

But let’s not overlook the REAL REASON why Hannah wanted a child in the first place.

She wanted to escape the humiliation of being a childless wife in a society where a women’s value was based on her ability to bring forth new life.

So raising Samuel until he reached adulthood was never a priority for Hannah.

Don’t get me wrong.

I’m not saying Hannah didn’t sincerely love her son.

But when it comes down to it, her primary motivation for wanting a son was social pressure plain and simple…

Which is the reason that drives a lot of folks to get married and have kids.

Onwards.

As Hannah is handing Samuel over to Eli she reminds him…

“My lord, as sure as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here near you, praying to Adonai.  I prayed for this child, and Adonai has granted the request I asked of him.”

Hannah is retelling what happened about 6 years ago when she was pouring her soul out to the Lord at the entrance to the Tabernacle.

She then revealed something to Eli he had no idea about.

She tells him that on that day she prayed to God begging for a child, she had also made a vow that if her desire was met, she would return that child back to God.

So we can see we’ve come full circle here.

Okay, let’s transition over to the takeaway.

Honestly, the takeaway I’m getting is something I’ve already mentioned a couple of days ago.

It’s that at the end of the day, the children you give birth to don’t belong to you.

They are NOT your property.

Ultimately they belong to the Lord…

And whether or not you made a vow to dedicate your child to God, the principle still holds.

Your kids are not your pets…

They are not responsible for your happiness…

Nor are they to be turned into some kind of surrogate husband or wife to fulfill your emotional needs because your marriage is on the rocks.

Go to God to fulfill your emotional needs…

And surrender your children to the Lord so they can go on to fulfill their own Godly destiny.

Just as Hannah did with her son.

And God did with His only begotten son.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

“For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish,
but have everlasting life.”
-John 3:16

“If anyone causes one of these little ones
—those who believe in me—to stumble,
it would be better for them to have a
large millstone hung around their neck
and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
-Matthew 18:6