Devotional Blog Wednesday, May 31

Daily Devotional for Wednesday, May 31

Hannah’s Nurturing of Samuel

“But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband,
I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he
may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever,” 1 Samuel 1:22.

 

Each day she cared for him nurturing him from her very own body. Nurture is not a single act but a long-term process. It is not accomplished in a day or even a week. Nurturing is being concerned with the development of character and mind-set such that the individual is drawn closer to Christ. It is accompanied by sacrifice on the part of the one discipling.
The apostle Peter reminds us that there is no sense in nurturing temporal things. These are the things of this world; wood, stubble, brick and even those things that are digital. Everything will soon pass away having been burned up in a fervent heat. The only thing that will not be burnt is that which is established by the Word of God.
The Word of God is more important for the feeding of the young ones than milk. If fed God’s Word, it will seep into the child or the new
believer’s heart so that it is a lamp to the pitter-patter of his little feet. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2).
Elkanah, Samuel’s father, understood the need for nurturing Samuel including his weaning from his mother but he went a step further. He told Hannah, “The Lord establish his word” (1 Samuel 1:23). Elkanah wanted Samuel brought up in the nurture of God. The apostle Paul encouraged this in the book of Philippians as he spoke of the responsibility of the family in raising children who are useful for God’s kingdom and Christ’s church (Ephesians 6:4).

 

THOUGHT: There is no greater gift to a young believer or your own children than to firmly establish the Word of God as the foundation of their life.

David Thompson