64. Wednesday after First Sunday after Epiphany.
Lord our God, from thee
have we received our children,
and we return them to thee;
let them be thine
in time and eternity. Amen.
1 Samuel 1, 20. 24-28. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh; and the child was young. And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, Oh, my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.
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Do like Hannah: Grant your children to the Lord as long as they live. He will receive them, and employ them in his service for some good purpose, and he will take them home to heaven. We may certainly hope that the children whom their parents give to the Lord with believing and persistent prayer, shall become blessed and happy men and women. There are countless possibilities before the little child. Many of the grandest men in the world have been nursed in poverty, and the parents never dreamed that the little boy in their humble cottage was destined to become a blessing to thousands. But the men and women who fill our prisons for criminals, and who fill their own hearts with falsehood and the poison of hell; they, also, were at one time little children; Cain and Judas, as well as Noah and Isaac, were the hope of their parents. Still, God creates no one in order to destroy him. There is no inexorable evil fate hanging over any of our children; there is no necessity which compels them to become vessels of wrath. God gives to reprobation only such as give themselves to reprobation and refuse his mercy. It is to such as these that God says: “Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee.” Do you think that any have become the children of perdition whom the parents carried often to the Lord in prayer, and whom they gave into his keeping? Most certainly not. Nevertheless, pray for grace to bring your children as an offering to the Lord, even as Abraham made an offering of Isaac, and as Hannah made an offering of Samuel. Your own heart, also, must be a part of the offering; “every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” To be sure, we often see that the children of godly men go wrong. The sons of Samuel, Absalom, Ahaz, and others had pious fathers, and still became ill-fated men. But is it certain, after all, that their parents prayed sedulously for them? Have not even the saints shown, in many matters of grave importance, that they were far from being perfect? Can the promises of God fail, do you think? Shall a child of prayer perish? Impossible! Whatever the will of God in regard to the worldly estate of your sons and daughters, whether it is to be high or lowly; they shall become a blessing, if you early and unceasingly give them to the Lord, and pray for them, trusting in God’s promises. He gave them to you, and you gave them back to him in their baptism; continue to give them to him in sincere faith and devotion, regard them and treat them as belonging to him. In truth, they are his own. Shall Satan, then, have power over them? Nevermore! Is this not a blessing of blessings? God be praised for his mercy! We and all ours shall be saved. And not this alone, but they shall also serve the Lord here. Help us, O God, to believe, and gladly to give ourselves and our children as offerings to thee, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.*
Tender Shepherd, never leave us
From thy fold to go astray;
By thy look of love directed,
May we walk the narrow way;
Thus direct us, and protect us,
Lest we fall an easy prey.
[TLH 627, listen here; or ELH 367]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.