Give Up Your Child to God!

Photo by bigbirdz 2010

As we celebrate Mother’s Day, we can be thankful for earthly mothers and Godly women who let the love of Jesus Christ shine through them (Ephesians 3:17,19; 5:2), even if that means surrendering their child to God’s perfect will. But sadly, many mothers relinquish their child not to God’s perfect grace, but to an idol or false god. In Scripture we see two examples of these contrasting motives and outcomes.

Pressured by the demands of false religion, mothers sacrificed their infants to Molech, the fire god, in a barbaric ritual begun by neighboring pagan lands but enforced by Ahaz and Manasseh, kings of Israel (2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6). As children were burned at the altar, drums beat incessantly to drown out the wailing of the infants and their mothers who may have realized too late the horrors of what they were doing.

Even King Solomon, wisest of all men (1 Kings 4:29-34), built altars to Molech to keep the peace with his pagan wives, and I assume he may have even allowed his own offspring by these women to be tossed into the flames. In addition to this punishment, God’s judgment for this evil was the loss of Solomon’s kingdom (1 Kings 11:4-11). God considered this such an abomination (Jeremiah 32:35) that He demanded stoning for those who sacrificed their infants to Molech (Leviticus 20:2-5).

In contrast, Hannah, wife of Elkinah, “gave up” her son to the One true Jehovah God and was richly blessed in return. Although Elkinah loved Hannah far more than his other wife Peninnah and treated her far better, this could not assuage Hannah’s grief over being barren. To rub salt in the wound, fertile Peninnah taunted Hannah for bearing no children, and Elkinah meant well but couldn’t understand why his own love for Hannah was not enough (1 Samuel 1:1-8),

The story has many parallels to that of Jacob, who loved his wife Rachel far more than her sister Leah, even though Leah bore him children whereas Rachel was initially childless (Genesis 29:16-35; 30:1-25).

Hannah fasted, prayed fervently and wept, in “bitterness of soul,” that God would give her a son. Her faith was so strong that she promised to return that child to God in His service, by allowing him to assist the priest and train to be one even as a young child (1 Samuel 1:1-10-16).

Some might say that she was striking a bargain with God, which in my opinion would be a sin of pride and of unbelief. Essentially, offering something to God in exchange for a particular outcome implies that we know what we need better than God does, that He does not love us enough to do what is best for us, and that He needs something from us (Matthew 6:8,32; 7:11; Psalm 50:7-14).

Scripture is clear that those who make a vow to God must honor it or face dire consequences (Deuteronomy 23:21,23; Ecclesiastes 5:4), and that we should think carefully before making a foolish promise or one that we cannot or will not honor (Judges 11:30-40)

But rather than bargaining with God. I believe that Hannah had the faith to know God could answer her prayer for a son and that He is the source of all good gifts (James 1:17). She “vowed a vow” to consecrate that child to Him (Psalm 50:14; 66:13), in essence thanking Him in advance for granting her request (Philippians 4:6).

Eli, the priest who at first thought Hannah was drunk, ultimately recognized her profound faith and believed that God would grant her request. Further evidence of Hannah’s faith is that she came to the altar in utmost distress, yet after she poured out her soul, she left in peace, trusting God for the outcome (1 Samuel 1: 17-18). She conceived shortly after they returned home from the yearly pilgrimage to the Lord’s house, and appropriately named her son Samuel, meaning “God has heard.”

True to her promise, Hannah raised Samuel until he was weaned, then returned to the Lord’s house where she offered him to assist Eli and to be trained by him as a priest. She and Elkinah also gave a generous offering and worshipped the Lord for answering her prayer. How heart-wrenching it must have been for Hannah to “lend her son to the Lord” for as long as he would live, and to return to her strangely quiet home that was once filled with her toddler’s cries (v. 22-28).

But Hannah continued in prayer and in praise, singing a song of worship (1 Samuel 2:1-10) that many centuries later would inspire Mary to sing the Magnificat when she learned God had chosen her to be the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:46-55). Samuel served God under Eli’s supervision, and was a shining light in a priest’s house darkened by the evil deeds of his sons and by the spiritual weakness of the priest himself (1 Samuel 2:12-18; 22-25).

Each year Hannah and Elkinah faithfully returned to the Lord’s house for offering and worship, and each year she brought Samuel a new coat she had made to accommodate the growing lad (v. 19). I wonder if she kept a special chest filled with his outgrown garments as a memory of the son whose company she could not enjoy? But thankfully, she would soon need them, as Eli prayed that God would give her a child to make up for the one she had lent to Him (v. 20).

You can’t outgive God (Luke 6:38), so it doesn’t surprise me that God answered that prayer by blessing Hannah with three more sons and two daughters! (1 Samuel 2:21) She was doubly blessed, not only with a large family but with knowing that Samuel was growing in God’s grace and service (v. 26). Ultimately God spoke directly to Samuel warning him of Eli’s destruction to come and making him a great prophet (1 Samuel 3).

Not all of our children are called to be preachers or missionaries, but as parents who believe in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as the only way to Heaven (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 14:6), we should lend our children to the Lord for whatever service He has intended for them.

Yet we hear of children who want to go to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) by going to forsaken parts of the earth to spread the Good News of the Gospel (Acts 1:8), and of parents who discourage them, out of fear or selfish motives of wanting to keep them nearby.

In truth, “our” children are His, not ours, and He has graciously lent them to us. May we encourage them by our example to trust in Christ alone, to pray, to study His Word, and to serve Him! God will reward us many times over!

© 2014 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

 

Take Out the Trash!

Photo by Miran Hladnik2012

I dreamed that my family and I were vacationing in Tuscany and were staying in an old farmhouse. Our daughter-in-law had collected a basketful of flowers from a neighboring field, which smelled like lavender but resembled miniature roses with delicate, triangular petals in spiral array, rather than tiny buds on a spike as is usual for lavender.

Our son called her to see something he had spotted outside, so she went outdoors and my husband joined them. I assumed they would only be a few minutes, so I began dinner preparations. We were planning to make cioppino, or a stew from local mussels, clams, and other shellfish.

I thought it would be handy to have a place to discard the shells, and I spotted a small, stainless steel trash can in the corner and placed it in the center of the long, wooden trestle table. It looked out of place, so I thought using some of the flowers as a centerpiece would help it look more festive. I found a small silver bowl, tucked a few of the blossoms inside, and nestled some lavender-colored tissue paper around them.

My husband returned, took one look at the table, and exclaimed, “The trash can is in the middle of the table!” He removed it and set it back in its usual corner, but I explained that we needed a container for the shells and put it back in the center of the table.

Still trying to be helpful, my husband began to fiddle with the centerpiece. Much to my dismay, he was plucking out all the bits of tissue paper I had so carefully arranged.

Then my daughter-in-law entered just in time to question, “Why is the garbage can on the table?” and “What happened to the lavender?” She removed the trash can and the centerpiece from the table, replacing them with the straw basket filled with the blooms she had gathered from the field that morning.

I had to admit it looked and smelled lovely, and it was a relief to no longer have the trash can as an eyesore and point of contention in the place of honor. Suddenly I remembered that dinner was in the oven, but when I opened the oven door I was shocked that there was no cioppino, only a reheated leftover piece of fish from last night’s dinner that was unlikely to feed even one of us.

As I awoke and considered the symbolism of the dream, I realized that the family dining table should be not only the center of family fellowship, but also a key gathering place for our fellowship with Christian family and with Christ Himself. As He broke bread and drank wine with His apostles, He asked them to remember Him every time they did this (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24).

Specifically, Jesus asked them, and by extension all of us who are born-again (John 3:3-8), to remember His body, broken for us, and His blood, shed for us, to be the perfect sacrifice to reconcile sinful man with Holy God (Hebrews 7:27; 9:26; 10:12). Later, by rising from the dead on the third day, He proved that He is God, so that all who trust Him can have eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 3:16).

Each time we gather to break bread, whether as a family, in Christian fellowship, or at the Lord’s Table in the sacrament of communion, we should honor Christ as the center (Colossians 1:18). But how often do we let the garbage in our lives, whether sins, weights (Hebrews 12:1), or works of our own hands that become idols (Psalm 135:15; Isaiah 2:8), take His rightful place?

Family meals are best when they begin with prayer and are accompanied by conversation showing interest in and support for our loved ones, and even by discussion of spiritual matters. Yet the growth of technology has been an effective tool of Satan to disrupt such fellowship and communion, first by radio and television and now by “smart” phones.

I believe the flowers in the dream symbolized Jesus Christ, for the fragrance of lavender is as close as we may get on earth to experiencing His royal perfume (Isaiah 61:3; Exodus 30:37; Song of Solomon 1:3; 3:6), and the shape of the blossoms were like the Rose of Sharon (Song of Solomon 2:1). The triangular petals were a reference to the Trinity (Matthew 28:19), for in Christ we have the fullness of the Godhead bodily, including the Holy Spirit and God the Father (Colossians 2:9).

He gave Himself freely so that all who seek Him will find Him and be saved (Jeremiah 29:13; Deuteronomy 4:29; Proverbs 8:17; Matthew 7:7-8), just as in the dream my daughter-in-law freely gathered the blossoms from the field and brought them home to share with us and adorn our table. Upon being saved, it should be our delight to share Christ with everyone, just as it was for the Samaritan woman at the well, and to make Him the focus of our fellowship and lives (John 4:28-29).

But I had instead allowed trash to occupy that place of honor. Refuse can look attractive in worldly terms, as the apostle Paul explained when he said that all his former achievements, education, and religious zeal were no better than dung in comparison with what he had gained through His relationship with Christ (Philippians 3:4-14).

My attempts to “improve” the natural beauty of the lavender by putting the blossoms in a silver bowl and arranging scraps of tissue around them may represent mankind’s vain attempts to be saved by the works of his hands, whether exclusively, as in the case of Cain who offered God his best crops rather than the blood sacrifice that God commanded (Genesis 4:2-7), or added to Christ’s finished work on the cross (John 19:30).

An example of the latter is the Mormon doctrine of “We do our best, and Jesus does the rest.” Any attempt to add to Jesus’ perfect, completed sacrifice is an insult to God and His Son. It would be like receiving a freely given gift of a Rolls-Royce and then insisting that we pay one penny toward the purchase price.

We are saved by grace through faith, not by works (Ephesians 3:8-9). Jesus Christ is beautiful and perfect in His righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30), and we should not attempt to gild the Lily of the valleys (Song of Solomon 2:1).

The trash can in the dream would not have been needed at all had I not planned to serve shellfish. When the apostle Peter had a vision commanding Him to eat unclean animals (Acts 10:9-17), was God really recommending that he abandon the dietary laws given by God to Moses? Many believe that to be true, and certainly we do not keep such laws in order to be saved, but rather it is a matter of individual conscience within our Christian liberty (1 Corinthians 10:25-33).

Peter interpreted the vision as God telling him to no longer consider the Gentiles unclean, but to freely share the Gospel with them  (Acts 10:28; 34-35). Therefore he may have continued to keep Mosaic dietary law, and certainly he would not have been wrong to do so. God in His infinite wisdom gave His chosen people these dietary and hygiene laws to preserve their health, and we can today confirm from modern science the benefits of His prescribed practices.

I personally avoid shellfish and pork because of the health benefits of God’s dietary laws, so my serving shellfish in the dream may have symbolized rebellion against God’s will for my life. When we stray from God’s perfect plan, there will be consequences. In the dream, my attempt to serve others with a dish that was not God’s best was thwarted, and I was embarrassed as I pulled a skimpy leftover piece of fish from the oven.

But a small morsel of food served with love and enjoyed in fellowship is better than a banquet eaten in the midst of strife and discontent (Proverbs 15:17; 17:1). Jesus Himself enjoyed a piece of fish in His resurrected body (Luke 24:42), and the miracles of the loaves and fishes (Matthew 14:14-21; 15:32-38) during His earthly ministry reminds me that when we honor Him, He will take our meager offerings and multiply them to nourish all who gather in His Name!  

© 2018 Laurie Collett