I Samuel 1:25-28
‘Then they slaughtered the bull, and brought the boy to Eli. She said, “Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the LORD. “For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him. “So I have also dedicated him to the LORD”‘
Hannah is following through on a promise she made. The original offer was, “Lord, if you give me a son, I will dedicate him to you.” She is now making good on that. The part I want to focus on is Hannah keeping her word.
First off, scripture warns us against making vows to God. Ecclesiastes 5:5 says, “It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.” We aren’t to hasty with our words, particularly when comes to God.
We are to people of our word. We are bound by all sorts of contracts. As members of a family, we are responsible to keep house rules, as a student in a class, we agree to the terms of the syllabus, as an employee we sign all sorts of agreements that we are obligated to, in friendships there are unspoken (and sometimes spoken) agreements, as a volunteer at church we usually need to agree to terms (sometimes signed) and so on.
People should be able to count on us. Are we reliable? I Timothy 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” One’s family is to be able to rely on the parents for food, shelter, protection and wisdom. Parents are to be trustworthy. Jesus said in Luke 11:11, “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?” It’s unthinkable that a father wouldn’t be trustworthy.
As we mature, we are to grow in our reliability/responsibility. Jesus says in Luke 16:10, that the one who is faithful in little will be faithful in much. Parents seek to instill responsibility in their children. They might buy a pet on the condition that the child care for it. There were probably all sorts of reliability tests prior to this. The pet would be the larger responsibility. We are to grow and become more reliable.
We can scan the different parts of our lives. Where do we need to grow in reliability/responsibility? We shouldn’t take every opportunity that comes to mind. We should pray and weigh in terms of our present commitments.
Lord, help us to be responsible/reliable people. Help us to wisely choose our commitments and follow through with them.