1 SAMUEL 1-3
PROPHET IN TRAINING
John Todd was born in Rutledge, Vermont, into a family of several children. They later moved to the village of Killingsworth back in the early 1800s. And there, at a very young age, both John's parents died. The relatives wondered what they would do with so many children, how they could parcel them out to other friends and relatives. One dear and loving aunt said she would take little John. The aunt sent a horse and a slave to get John, who was only six at the time. The slave, Caesar, came and put the little boy on the back of the horse.
On the way back an endearing conversation took place:
John: Will she be there?
Caesar: Oh, yes, she'll be there waiting up for you.
John: Will I like living with her?
Caesar: My son, you fall into good hands.
John: Will she love me?
Caesar: Ah, she has a big heart.
John: Will I have my own room? Will she let me have a puppy?
Caesar: She's got everything all set, son. I think she has some surprises, too.
John: Do you think she'll go to bed before we get there?
Caesar: Oh, no! She'll be sure to wait up for you. You'll see when we get out of these woods. You'll see her candle shining in the window.
" When they got to the clearing, sure enough, there was a candle in the window and she was standing in the doorway. She reached down, kissed him, and said "Welcome home!" She fed him supper, took him to his room, and waited until he fell asleep. John Todd grew up to be a great minister of the gospel. But it was there at his aunt's, his new mother, that he grew up. It was always a place of enchantment because of his aunt. It awed him that she had given him a second home. She had become a second mother to him." Whether the Aunt realized it or not, she was training John Todd for future service to the Lord! --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 377. Bible Illustrator 3.0
Today is Mother's Day. It is the day that we honor our Moms, and it is also the day that we remember just how important they are. Mothers and Dads and Grandmothers and Grandfathers are all important because under their care are precious children and teenagers who are being trained. How a child turns out has much to do with how well they have been loved, cared for, and instructed.
Psalm 92:13 - Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
There are two key ingredients involved in training a child. First there is the influence of those around him, and second there is the response of the child to his influence.
In 1 Samuel chapters 1-3 we meet a child whose environment was much like the environment that your children and grandchildren are growing up in. Samuel grew up in times of wickedness and Spiritual poverty. The nation Israel was a moral and Spiritual mess!
I don't think I need to tell you that America is a moral and spiritual mess! Now if Samuel turned out okay when the odds seemed stacked against him because of the terrible moral and spiritual conditions, our children and grandchildren can also turn out okay in spite of the terrible moral and spiritual conditions today.
There are some important ingredients involved in the training of Samuel. These same important ingredients should be a part of the training of your child.
Samuel was given to God. 1:11, 28
Samuel's mother, Hannah, was married to a man named Elkanah.
These were the days when God tolerated multiple wives, and Hannah was one of two wives. The other wife was not as loved by her husband as Hannah was. However, she was able to have children and Hannah was having difficulty. 1 Samuel 1:5 says in part, for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb.
Things came to a head for Hannah at a yearly sacrifice. According to verse 6 the other wife, Peninnah, belittled or antagonized her. The fact that she had no child weighed heavily upon Hannah.
As a result Hannah went to the Lord in Prayer. Read Vss. 9-11.
Hannah made a promise. "Lord, you give me a boy, and I will give him back to you."
In fact Hannah made a vow that Samuel would be a Nazarite. That's what she meant when she said that a razor would not touch him.
A Nazarite was a man or a woman who had made a vow before the Lord to serve the Lord for a specific period of time or for life.
The vow was usually made by the person fulfilling the vow, but was occasionally made by the parent for the child, such as in the case of Samuel. A Nazarite did not cut his hair, touch any grape products and was not allowed near dead bodies.
Vss. 12 -14 - Eli, the priest, thought that Hannah was drunk because her mouth moved but no words came out. So, he yelled at her!
Vs. 15-16 - Hannah explained her situation, and assured Eli that she was not drunk, but had been pouring out her soul before God.
Vs. 17 - Eli gave his blessing and speaking for God, said that the
request would be answered.
Vss. 18-20 - Hannah became a Momma!
Vss. 24-28 - And Hannah was true to her word about giving the child to God. At a very age Samuel was brought to the Lord's house and given to the Lord, as Hannah had promised.
We should follow the example of Hannah and give our children and grandchildren to the Lord.
Now I am not suggesting that you make a Nazarite vow for your child. Nor I am suggesting that you promise God that your child will be a preacher or a missionary or even a Christian School teacher. And I am certainly not suggesting that you drop your child off at the preacher's house at age 3 or any other age expecting us to train him or her. I'm sure there are days you wish you could do that.
However I am suggesting that you do dedicate your children and grandchildren to the Lord. But there is a principle here.
We should dedicate our children to the Lord.
We should be willing to let the Lord do with our children whatever He wants. That means we let God have control over the child's life, death, health and safety.
This means giving the Lord freedom to call the child into full time Christian work.
Dedication actually means making the Lord the owner of our children, and us the guardians.
This will also mean praying for our children continually, not just when we think that they are in trouble.
This also means being committed to making the child live for the Lord, as long as he or she is under our roof.
Joshua 24:15 - And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve …but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
There is many a plaque that has that saying on it, …but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
But let me ask you, does your heart say that?
It begins with dedicating yourself to the Lord, and then your children and grandchildren.
Samuel was given to God. 1:11, 28
Samuel was trained at his mother's knee. 1:24
Vs. 24 - When a child was weaned, it meant that he was no longer dependent on his mother's milk. This process in those days took up to three years.
Hannah had dedicated Samuel to the Lord, and she had three years with him. I feel that these were three years of intensive training.
Two and three year olds can be trained to love the Lord!
Listen to two and three years olds who have been brought up in actively Christian homes and you will see what I mean. This is the way it should be.
Many children have made decisions for Christ as preschoolers. Sometimes they reaffirm that decision at a later age, as our son Mark did, but the decisions can be real and life changing. It should be the goal of every parent that their child come to faith in Christ at a very early age.
I believe that this was the time when Hannah planted in Samuel the idea of lifetime service to the Lord. She prepared Him to serve the Lord all the days of his life!
Can't you picture Hannah saying, "Now Samuel, some children will be allowed to do some things that you won't be allowed to do. That's because you're special, you belong to the Lord." My how we need that kind of teaching today!
You will notice that Samuel never rebelled against the teaching that he received.
An unknown person wrote - "We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from other kids had, too.
"Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You’d think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them.
"She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.
"We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do. She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
"By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds. Then, life was really tough! Mother wouldn’t let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.
"Because of our mother, we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other’s property, or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault. We never got drunk, took up smoking, stayed out all night, or a million other things, other kids did.
"Sundays were reserved for church, and we never missed once. We knew better than to ask to spend the night with a friend on Saturdays.
"Now that we have left home, we are all God-fearing, educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that’s what is wrong with the world today. It just doesn’t have enough mean moms anymore. Source unknown http://www.bible.org/illus/m/m-65.htm#TopOfPage
Let's follow Hannah's example to train our children and to heed the admonition of Deuteronomy 6:4-7
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Samuel was given to God. 1:11, 28
Samuel was trained at his mother's knee. 1:24
Samuel was raised in the house of God. 2:18
Uh Oh, I feel it coming! The preacher is going to stop preaching and go to meddling!
1 Samuel 2:11 - And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest.
1 Samuel 2:18 - But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.
1 Samuel 2:21 - And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.
Samuel was literally raised in the church of his day!
He learned to serve the Lord by doing.
Dottie and I did the same thing. We made mistakes with our children, believe me. But the kids never rebelled against going to morning or evening church, Sunday School or youth group. And there were times when they were the only children present. Later we never told our kids that there were other options other than Christian College, and all three ended up in Bible Colleges where all three had a major in Bible.
Even today all three children are active in their respective churches.
Psalm 92:13 - Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Let me tell you something folks.
Your children need Sunday School every Sunday.
Your children need Morning and Evening Service every Sunday.
And I'll make a deal with you. Bring the children on Sunday night and we'll add children's songs. Bring the young people and we'll add choruses.
Your children need Good News Club of Youth Group every Wednesday night.
It's easy to make excuses, but your children will learn from you. What you do they'll do. If you by your actions say that church attendance is not important, they'll follow your example.
We need to take Hebrews 10:24-25 seriously,
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: [25] Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
And folks we live in a tough, cruel, immoral world. It will only get worse. Pity the child and the teenager who is not grounded in the Word of God.
Samuel was given to God. 1:11, 28
Samuel was trained at his mother's knee. 1:24
Samuel was raised in the house of God. 2:18
Samuel was called by the Lord. 3:1-10
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Do you think that Hannah prayed for her son? I'm convinced that she did. As we pray for our children, God is sure to call them.
First, he will call them to salvation, and he will start to call at a very early age.
Mark 10:14 - Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
There is no more important decision to be made than that of trusting Christ as Savior. Pray that your child makes that decision, and encourage your child to make that decision.
John 3:36 - He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
God will also call your child to be totally surrendered to Him.
Romans 12:1 - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
God will also call your child to serve Him in some capacity. It may not be in full time Christian Service, but there are plenty of ways to serve without being full time. God wants each one of us to use our Spiritual gifts.
1 Peter 4:10-11 - As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Teach your child to listen for the quiet voice of God.
Teach your child how to pray.
Teach your child how to read the Word of God devotionally.
Samuel was given to God. 1:11, 28
Samuel was trained at his mother's knee. 1:24
Samuel was raised in the house of God. 2:18
Samuel was called by the Lord. 3:1-10
Samuel responded properly to the Lord.
Read Vss. 9-10
Teach your child to say to the Lord, Teach your child to say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.
Teach your child to obedience to the Lord, to do whatever God calls him to do.
How do we teach our children to be obedient to the Lord?
We teach obedience by being obedient ourselves.
I become obedient by doing what God's Word says as I hear it preached and as I read it for myself.
We want our children to obey us.
Most of all we should want them to be obedient to God.
1 Samuel 15:22-23 - Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Samuel was given to God. 1:11, 28
Samuel was trained at his mother's knee. 1:24
Samuel was raised in the house of God. 2:18
Samuel was called by the Lord. 3:1-10
Samuel responded properly to the Lord. 3:9-10
Samuel developed a Godly testimony. 3:19-21
1 Samuel 3:19-21 - And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. [20] And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. [21] And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
As your child is trained properly in the things of God, as Samuel was, he or she will have a Godly testimony like Samuel.
Again I can speak from experience. Even to this day we have seen our children maintain Godly testimonies. What more can we ask for.
Samuel was given to God. 1:11, 28
Samuel was trained at his mother's knee. 1:24
Samuel was raised in the house of God. 2:18
Samuel was called by the Lord. 3:1-10
Samuel responded properly to the Lord. 3:9-10
Samuel developed a Godly testimony. 3:19-21