Raising Sons

In reading 1 Samuel’s opening chapters, I am reminded of the enormous pressure I felt, and still do feel, about raising sons. As a point of clarity, I only have sons. Four to be exact. They are “grown” now. (What does that even mean? All I can tell is that it means they no longer live in my house and eat my food.) But I digress. 

So far in 1 Samuel, we have heard twice about the failure of prominent men of God to raise up their sons to be godly men. (Spoiler alert- we are not done with failing fathers.) In our reading so far, the indictment has been against fathers, but we all know there is more to the story. Look at the effect Hannah had on Samuel. Mother’s matter. 

If we are to get all we can from God’s Word we must find ourselves on the pages and in the stories. The good and bad. Do I have Hannah’s heart for prayer? Am I assuming like Eli and Samuel that because I love God my sons will too? The warnings are so clear. Raising sons is serious work. Are we listening? The good news is that there is more than just warnings. There are remedies. God has given us His word as a weapon against sin. One of my group members mentioned that after counseling a child for a season on a topic she finally read straight from the Bible the verses that applied to the situation. His response: “Oh, I get it now!” The Word is indeed living and active. It speaks like nothing else. 

In Ephesians 6 Paul, the mighty encourager, tells us to put on the FULL armor of God so that we may stay firm against the schemes of the devil (v10).  The last piece of the armor is the only offensive piece, “the sword of the the Spirit, which is the word of God” (v17). When we fight for our families we have a powerful weapon that is specifically designed to both lift us up and lay the enemy low. I am thankful to live in a time and place where I have unfettered access to the Word! 

So if you do “all of the above” then your boys are bulletproof, right? 

Clearly that is not the case. So then what? Stay tuned for part two.

By Laura Deskins