Today we'll read what I suspect is probably the most common scripture for people to put above their baby's crib (1 Samuel 1:20 or 27). If you've walked through Hobby Lobby, you've probably seen it! As we begin the Book of Samuel and cover the first three chapters, the good, the bad, and the ugly of parenting will be on full display. There is much for us to meditate upon to challenge and strengthen our perspective of what God calls us to as Christian moms.

Today's Reading: 1 Samuel 1-3

Scripture Read or Referenced:

1 Samuel 1:1-1:28

1 Samuel 2:26

1 Samuel 3:13

Luke 2:52

Would you like to know more about how you can guide your child in righteousness? Entrusted with a Child's Heart will do that! This quick episode explains how this biblical parenting study can guide moms, bless your church, and actually help the leaders! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

This is a dwelling place from Aru Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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Today we'll read what I suspect is

probably the most common scripture for

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people to put above their baby's crib.

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If you've walked through Hobby Lobby,

you've probably seen it as we begin.

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The Book of Samuel and cover.

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The first three chapters, the

good, the bad, and the Ugly of

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Parenting will be on full display.

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In the original Hebrew manuscripts,

first Samuel and Second Samuel were

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actually one book, but in the Greek

sub two agent, they didn't have

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scrolls long enough, so they divided

it into one Samuel and second Samuel.

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This is all about God establishing

the kingship in Israel.

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Samuel is the one God used to do

this, but he is not the author

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of this book of the Bible.

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He dies off much too soon

for that to be possible.

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It's not clear who the actual author is,

but we can tell a pretty specific timeline

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it takes place between about 1105 BC with

the birth of Samuel, and concludes with

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the final words of King David and 9 71 bc.

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It all takes place in Israel when the

nation was doing very poorly spiritually.

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Their main enemies at this point were

the Philistines and the Ammonites,

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Speaker 4: but interestingly, the

other major world powers around

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them were pretty weak at this time.

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So their main enemies

are within their nation.

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Speaker 6: First and second

Samuel are historical narratives.

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That means that interwoven in all of this

historical fact are well told stories

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because we're also intended to learn

from the examples of righteousness and

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unrighteousness throughout the pages.

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Winfred Oly compliments that this

author is a skilled storyteller.

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He says one can hardly overestimate

the incredible literary skill

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and subtlety of the narrator.

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His skillful use of irony, humor,

flashback, dramatic tension

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and resolution is astounding.

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So be on the lookout for those.

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The Davidic covenant, which is God's

promise of the kingship to David's line,

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is a key theme in this book, as well

as the sovereignty of God, how the Holy

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Spirit was at work to equip people for

what God called them to, and then the

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reality of the consequences of sin.

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What will be most important is that

we continue to be pointed to a king

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who is coming back to rain perfectly.

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First.

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Samuel one covers the birth of Samuel.

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Speaker 3: There was a

certain man of Ram Theum Z.

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Of the hill country of Eum, whose name

was Chea, the son of Jerome, son of

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Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zf and Aite.

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He had two wives.

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The name of the one was Hannah

and the name of the other Panina.

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And Panina had children,

but Hannah had no children.

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Now, this man used to go up year by

year from his city to worship and

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to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at

Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, HNA

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and Phineas were priests of the Lord.

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on the day when Al Cana sacrificed,

he would give portions to Panina his

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wife and to all her sons and daughters.

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But to Hannah, he gave a double portion.

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Because he loved her though the Lord had

closed her womb and her rival used to

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provoke her grievously to irritate her

because the Lord had closed her womb.

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So it went on year by year.

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As often as she went up to the house

of the Lord, she used to provoke her.

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Therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat.

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Anna Chena, her husband said

to her, Hannah, why do you

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weep and why do you not eat?

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And why is your heart sad?

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Am I not more to you than 10 sons?

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After they had eaten and

drunken Shiloh, Hannah Rose.

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Now Eli, the priest, was sitting

on the seat beside the doorpost

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of the temple of the Lord.

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She was Deeply distrust and prayed

to the Lord and wept bitterly,

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and she vowed a vow and said,

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oh Lord of hosts, if you will indeed

look on the affliction of your

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servant and remember me and not forget

your servant, but will give to your

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servant a son, then I will give him

to the Lord all the days of his life

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and no razor shall touch his head.

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As she continued praying before the

Lord, Eli observed her mouth, Hannah

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was speaking in her heart, only her

lips moved and her voice was not heard.

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Therefore, Eli took her to be a

drunken woman, and Eli said to her,

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how long will you go on being drunk?

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Put your wine away from you?

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But Hannah answered, no, my Lord,

I am a woman troubled in spirit.

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I have drunk, neither why nor

strong drink, but I have been

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pouring out my soul before.

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The Lord.

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Do not regard your servant

as a worthless woman.

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For all along I have been speaking

outta my great anxiety and vation.

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Then Eli answered, go in

peace and the God of Israel.

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Grant your petition that you have

made to him, and she said, let your

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servant find favor in your eyes.

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And then the woman went her way and

ate, and her face was no longer sad.

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They rose early in the morning

and worshiped before the Lord.

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Then they went back to their house

at Rama, and knew Hannah, his

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wife, and the Lord remembered her.

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And in due time, Hannah conceived

and Bo a son, and she called

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his name Samuel for, she said, I

have asked for him from the Lord.

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The man, Chena and all his house

went up to offer to the Lord the

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yearly sacrifice and to pay his.

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But Hannah did not go up for, she

said to her husband, as soon as the

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child is weaned, I will bring him so

that he may appear in the presence

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of the Lord and dwell there forever.

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Alcan, her husband said to

her, do what seems best to you.

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Wait until you have weaned him.

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Only may the Lord establish his word.

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So the woman remained and nursed

her son until she weaned him

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and when she had weaned him.

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She took him up with her along with

a three-year-old bull, an iffa, a

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flour, and a skin of wine, and she

brought him to the house of the Lord

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at Shiloh and the child was young.

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then they slaughtered the bull and

they brought the child to Eli and she

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said, oh my Lord, as you live, my Lord,

I am the woman who was standing here

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in your presence praying to the Lord.

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For this child, I prayed and the Lord has

granted me my petition that I made to him.

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Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord

as long as he lives, he is lent to the

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Lord and he worshiped the Lord There.

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Speaker 7: When we read that

Hannah's heart was grieved, it

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reflects anger, not just sadness

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And when it says, Hannah was greatly

distressed when she prayed, that

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literally means bitter of soul.

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She was anguished, but she

took her pain to the Lord.

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I think she needed to

have a good, ugly cry.

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And she will be the only woman in

scripture to make a vow to the Lord.

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If you remember before in our reading

for a married woman, if the husband did

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not agree with her vow, he could nullify

it, instead of favoring this child and

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holding him tightly, like Israel did with

his favorite wife's firstborn, Joseph Al

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actually releases him to serve the Lord

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in 1 27 and 28.

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Those popular verses I

mentioned at the beginning.

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When Hannah says, for this child, I prayed

and the Lord has granted me my petition.

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The word meaning Lent is used about

four times in the Hebrew, and it

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makes me think about Entrusted

that our children are not our own.

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It's kind of like God asked us to babysit

and we'll have to give an account for

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how we pointed our children to him.

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We can either hold them tightly or

surrender them to the Lord's purposes

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for their lives, but be careful.

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Surrender doesn't mean to let

them run wild, as we'll see with

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Eli Samuel probably would've been

weaned at about three years old

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to go and surf in the temple.

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Can you imagine dropping your

three-year-old off to serve in the church?

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But every year, Hannah brought

him a freshly made garment and I'm

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sure was the absolute joy of her

life to see God using him there.

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She praises God for answering her request

and hearing the humble, in fact, in Mary

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the mother of Jesus is famous prayer.

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She quotes some of Hannah's words

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Samuel becomes an example of righteousness

and what the text will do for these next

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couple chapters is juxtapose the evil

practices of Eli's sons Hni and Phineas.

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With the righteous behavior of Samuel.

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this is a different Phineas than

the priest that I loved After the

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time of Moses in 2 26, we're told

now the Boy Samuel continued to

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grow both in stature and in favor

with the Lord and also with man.

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And this sounds so similar to Luke 2 52

with Jesus as a child and Jesus grew in

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wisdom and favor with God and with man.

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Have you ever heard someone say that

there's nothing you can do to make

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God love you more or please him more?

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When I read these two verses, I'm

reminded that when we're believers, we

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have right legal standing before God.

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But actually we can act

in a way that pleases him.

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I think it's important for us to

understand this as moms, because we can

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encourage our kids that our righteous

choices really do matter to the Lord.

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I and chapter three, we get to another

one of those famous Sunday school stories

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when Samuel hears the voice of the

Lord, but he thinks he's hearing Eli.

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Do you remember it?

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He's sleeping in one room,

Eli's sleeping in another.

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Samuel hears his name being

called and he keeps rising up

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to say, yes, Eli, I'm here.

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Finally, Eli realizes the

Lord is talking to you.

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Go lie down and listen

to what he has to say.

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It's likely Samuel was a teenager

here because the word boy used

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is the same word scripture uses.

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About David when he defeats Goliath.

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I think that's a good thing because the

message God gives him to deliver to Eli

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is that Eli's sons are going to die and

on the same day for their wickedness,

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and that God will punish Eli by cutting

off his line because Eli did not restrain

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the sinfulness of his sons, chapter

two told us that Eli strongly rebuked

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their behavior, but it wasn't enough.

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God is holding him and us

accountable to guide our children

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in making better choices.

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And to do that, we need prayer.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

sovereignty and your goodness displayed in

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the way that you answered Hannah's prayer

I pray for all of the women listening

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that are struggling with infertility

because it is one of our greatest honors

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and desires on this earth to be mothers.

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The pain of infertility

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can be one of our most piercing pains.

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I pray for wisdom and healing

and blessing for the bodies that

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are struggling to bear children.

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Lord, would you hear the ache of

their hearts and bless them today?

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And when you do may we be faithful

to point all of our children to

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you, raising them in the fear

and the instruction of the Lord.

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Where you are calling us to lovingly

point out sin in our children's lives,

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please help us to do so and be consistent.

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Teaching them how dangerous sin is, and

just as Samuel grew in wisdom and stature

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and favor with you and with man, we

ask for physical, mental, and relational

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growth for our kids as well, that they

would respond righteously and honorably

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in the church and in the world because

their hearts are pure before you.

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Thank you, Jesus, that

you modeled that as well.

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It's in your name we pray.

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Amen.