Honoring God

 Can young primary school students serve and honor God?

YES!

Samuel, a descendant of Abraham, loved, honored and obeyed God.  When he was brought to the Tabernacle at the tender age of three by his mother Hannah, he began to serve, honor and faithfully obey God.

Living in the Tabernacle he learned from Eli, the then High Priest.  Eli became like a father figure to him.  We can see that later in Samuel's life that he had lived and honored God in the capactiy of prophet and judge among the Israelites.

By contrast, Eli's own sons became very wicked and corrupt.  They were eventually killed in battle.

Just how can a young student serve and honor God?  Certainly, when they come to church and chairs and rooms need to be set-up or tided, they could do these simple tasks.  They could begin to learn a musical instrument and eventually play it for times of worship and rejoicing in the Lord.

Other angles are to show love to one another through kindness and even praying for one another.  Obeying the Lord of course, and one's parents are big ones.  Praying and trusting in God always, will show you honor God too.

Worshiping or bowing down to any picture or image that represents God or Jesus is wrong and dishonors God.  You may ask, "...even a cross?"  "Yes," I say.  It is an inanimate object - a thing, not the Person of Christ.  The young student must worship their Creator, not a thing. No idols are allowed.

The Israelites had the Ark of the Covenant which rested in the Most Holy Place within the Tabernacle.  It was the place where God's presence dwelt among the people.

However, the Israelites took this for granted and began to see and use this Ark of the Covenant as a charm or idol.  They took it into battle and were seemingly very proud of it, feeling, for sure we will win because of it.  Afterall, it looked very grand and glittered with gold.

This ark was visible and could be seen, whereas, it took faith to see the invisible God.  But eventually the Israelites replaced God in their hearts with this visible representation.  This is something we must not do.

Similarly, I personally do not even like to wear a cross necklace or earrings to avoid any misunderstanding.  A cross is NOT a charm nor a thing to be worshiped.  We must worship GOD, Himself through our faith in Jesus Christ.

During High Priest Eli's and Samuel's time, the Israelites made a big mistake.  They took that Ark of the Covenant into battle with them.  The Philistines, against whom they fought, won.  They 'stole' the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelites as a snub against God and a big sneer at the Israelites.

The Israelites had not obeyed nor honored God; therefore, God could not honor them.  Eli's two wicked sons died in that battle too.  Upon hearing of the ark's capture, Eli died.

Since the Israelites had forgotten God, God had had to wake them up by taking that representation of Himself that they so cherished, away from them.  They had forgotten that it is GOD who saves, not an object, not matter how much it represented Him.

God 's presence goes with us wherever we are and we can worship Him though He is invisible.  We do not need pictures or objects that represent God.

When the Philistines stole the ark of the Covenant they were jubilant.  That quickly turned to horror for them.  Many of them got sick and/or had lots of troubles.  When they placed this ark in the temple of their god Dagon, Dagon fell down and broke into pieces.

The Philistines quickly came to realize that the God of the Israelites was indeed more powerful than their false god.  They sent the ark back to the Israelites.

Thankfully, we learn that the Israelites saw the error of their ways and repented.  God always likes to see this in us nowadays too.  They repented, cried out to God for help and He heard them.  They decided to honor God and once again make sacrifices to Him.

Even though God is invisible to us, He is still be with us.  He is with us through His Holy Spirit's indwelling when we accept Jesus as Savior.  Then we need to...

Honor God by respecting Him, obeying and serving Him while loving others.

I highly respect Hannah in the honoring God department.  She vowed to dedicate her baby to the Lord should He open her womb for her to conceive and bear a child.  Samuel was that baby and she honored her vow that she made before the Lord.  When Samuel was weaned, generally believed to be around the age of three, she took him to Eli and left him there to be of service.  Hannah had honored God and He honored her.  What's more, young Samuel did too.  So can young primary schoolers today.  Just as God's word teaches,

"Those who honor ME I will honor" (1 Samuel 2:30).

                                                   ~ERC  March 2024~

Based on 1 Samuel 1-7 and Kawan Grace Resource P4d Lesson 3.

Sing, I Will Honor God, along with Mc Ace Ph.