Now of course, Samuel is a little bit different from Junior and Sally.  He was one of God’s anointed prophets.  He did some big stuff to move the Kingdom football down the field. However, the principle still remains—our covenant children are not ours, they are his. The best we might be able to say is that God allows us to borrow them for specific seasons, never to possess them. 

“For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord” (I Samuel 1:27-28).

We encounter a despondent woman in I Samuel 1.  She has watched her husband’s other wife (Peninnah) pop out babies at an astonishing rate.  Not only was Hannah barren, but she was mistreated, misunderstood and mistaken.

She was mistreated by wife two, who “used to provoke her grievously to irritate her…” (1:6).  In other words—Peninnah talked trash to a deeply distressed woman.

She was misunderstood by her husband.  Elkanah must have fancied himself a 12^th century BC Casanova type—“Hannah, why do you weep?  Why is your heart sad?  Am I not more to you than ten sons?” His insensitivity only added to her pain.

Finally, Eli the priest mistook her for a drunken woman.  As she took her pain to the Lord, she “was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heart. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman” (1:13). Eli’s lack of discernment and awareness is a common reality in ministry—and he should have known better.

Yet, Hannah turned to the Lord and poured out her heart: “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life…” (1:11).

A few verses later, the dark clouds had lifted in Hannah’s soul.  She was pregnant and soon Samuel would arrive.  Except that when he did arrive he would come with strings attached.  For after the weaning process (3-4 years), Samuel would be given back to the Lord.

Hannah’s prayerful arrangement was that if the Lord gave her a son she would give him back to the Lord of Hosts: “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord” (1:27-28).

Now of course, Samuel is a little bit different from Junior and Sally.  He was one of God’s anointed prophets.  He did some big stuff to move the Kingdom football down the field. However, the principle still remains—our covenant children are not ours, they are his. The best we might be able to say is that God allows us to borrow them for specific seasons, never to possess them.

We need to ponder again the significance of Hannah’s prayerful arrangement, especially in light of how we often make idols of our children. Surely Christopher Ash is right when he states, “We live in cultures that make idols out of our children’s successes. We idolize education (or sports), caring more about their getting into good schools and achieving good exam results than we do about their faith and godliness. Often both parents care more about their own careers than about the loving, time-consuming godly nurture of their children. The biblical perspective challenges us to line up our desires for our children with God’s desires, and to make parenting decisions in line with God’s priorities.”

How different would our parenting be if we sought to align ourselves with Hannah’s prayer and God’s desires?

Parents, what is your greatest ambition for your children? Success? Prosperity? Renown? Athletic achievement? Or Godliness?

Children, how do you view your life? Is it yours to be spent as you desire, or have you “been bought with a price?”

As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there.

Robby Grames is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is Pastor of the Colfax Center PCA in Holland, Iowa.