Peer pressure?
Consider: 1 Samuel 1-2
I came across something today that I’ve never noticed before concerning the life of Samuel and it has gotten my mind to thinking.
In 1 Samuel 1:28 we find Hannah dedicating her son to the LORD and “giving” him to Eli. 1 Samuel 2:11 tells us that Samuel is left there to assist Eli in the temple and that he became the LORD’s helper.
But then the story rolls over and let’s us know that Eli’s sons “were scoundrels who had no respect for the LORD” (see 1 Samuel 2:12). And for the rest of chapter 2 it goes back and forth talking about Samuel and Eli’s rebelious sons.
So here’s what I’ve been wondering about how was Samuel not affected by Eli’s son’s? Samuel had to have seen what they were doing. They were practically raised by the same man. They may have even lived together. So how was Samuel not affected?
Our immediate answer would be that the LORD protected him. I agree with that, yet I wonder how he seemed to be untouched from Eli’s son’s example. Samuel still had to make the choice. So why did he choose to not let them affect him?
It’s a known fact that children look up to people around them, especially people they spend a lot of time with. And those people WILL have an impact on the children whether it’s positive or negative.
So I’m still wondering how Samuel seemed to be unaffected by Eli’s sons.
Could it be that we’ve given peer pressure too much glory? Could it be that it’s more an excuse than it is a reality? Could it be that those young people who have relationship with Jesus are empowered to overcome, yet when it comes to sin, we quickly throw our hands up and say “oh, it must have been peer pressure”?
What do you think?
It has definitely got me thinking…!
Bethany Mossburg on April 7th, 2009
The fact of the matter is, we will always have within us the choice. We choose to follow along; we choose to give in to the direction that others are going. Samuel was an amazing guy, and we’re going to read more tomorrow regarding the plans that God had laid before his feet.
I do wonder though, regarding the specific matter of peer pressure and devotion to God’s path over the path of our own choosing (or in this case, the path of others), whether or not his mom’s devotion to God-her understanding of stewardship and her commitment to the words she spoke to the LORD regarding that…if they had any sway over the way Samuel viewed his purpose in that temple. If indeed she went back each year, would she have reminded him that he was called to a higher purpose, that God had made a way for him to come into being in the world and that wasting time away from Truth wasn’t his destiny?
It does make one wonder…hmm… Good post, Chris.