S21P16 – Portraits of faith: Hannah

1 Sam. 1:27-28a
I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

Parents can have a difficult time letting go of their children; daycare, pre-school, summer camp, college. Entrusting that someone else will take care of your child as well as you take care of your child requires a lot of trust. All of these instances, however, require placing your child in another’s hands for only a short period of time. How much more trust does a parent need to place the child in the hands of another for a lifetime? For every parent of faith, what Hannah did is the expectation.

At the foundation of every blessing we receive is the true belief that God is He who provides these blessings. Similar to our idea of finances and tithing, we are giving back to God that which is already his. He owns it all and only allows us to steward it for a period. It is the same with our children. We are not the ones who are entrusting God with them, He is the one who is entrusting us with them. It is strong faith that allows us to have this perspective and dedicate to God that which we naturally desire to possess and guard so closely as being truly our own. But before being ours, our children were his.

Trusting God with our children can be easy when things are going well, but it becomes more difficult when our children’s paths are less than straight. At some point children become adults, and we must trust God to keep them as He keeps us. We must have faith in the simple truth that God knows how to care for and keep his children. Father, give us faith to trust You with those who we hold dear, knowing that You are our model of a faithful Father.