She Called Him Ichabod!!! (Mother’s Day Sermon)

Often a mother’s assignment in life is very difficult. Now if anything negative can be said about mothers, it would be about the names they give their children.

I personally think they should pass a law that allows a child that reaches the age of 10 or 12, to have a chance to select the name that they are going to be called for the rest of their life.

It almost seems that some mothers are still under medication when they named their child. For example, a family had the last name of Hogg. They had two daughters and they named them “Ima” and “Ura”

• Can you imagine one of those girls standing up in school and introducing herself saying, “Ima Hogg.”

• The other one probably stayed in fights when she walked up to someone and introduce herself and said, “Ura Hogg”

But in this passage of Scripture, we see where another Mother did a bad job of naming her child. This is the daughter-in-law of Eli the priest. She called her son “Ichabod”.

Illus: Can you imagine this child going to school and telling his class mates his name was “Ichabod”? I guarantee that they gave him the nickname “Icky!”

DO YOU KNOW WHAT ICHABOD” MEANS? It means “The Glory Of The Lord Has Departed.”

This mother named her child “Ichabod” because the glory of the Lord had departed from Israel, and she was sending a message.

Let me suggest THREE reasons why she named her child “Ichabod”.

I. BECAUSE GOD’S PEOPLE WERE NO LONGER VICTORIOUS

God had miraculously given them victory after victory, but when Israel came up against the Philistines, in 1 Samuel 4:1-22, they suffered a tragic defeat.

Look at 1 Samuel 4:1-2, we read, “And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, ISRAEL WAS SMITTEN BEFORE THE PHILISTINES: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.”

Defeat was not something that Israel was used to experiencing!

• But the Word of God said in verse 2, …Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.”

Four thousand men were killed because the Glory of the Lord had departed from Israel. And if that was not bad enough-

• Look at verse 10, we read, “And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.”

Because God’s people were suffering these tragic defeats, this mother named her child “Ichabod”. (The glory of the Lord hath departed)

Listen Mom, you need God in your life. We have overwhelming proof that in our society, Mothers are trying to live without God, and what a tremendous price they and their children are paying.

James 4:8 teaches us to, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.…”

If a person runs from God, and does not want the presence of God in their life, they and their children will suffer defeat after defeat.

When all these bad things began to happen to them, they can call it BAD LUCK or whatever they want to call it, but the fact is that they are living proof that the GLORY OF GOD HAS DEPARTED FROM THEIR LIVES.

Everyone here today needs God in their life. If He is not there, you might as well go home and write “Ichabod” across your front door, because the Glory of God is not in your life.

She named her child “Ichabod” because they were suffering one defeat after another. Also, she named her child “Ichabod”-

II. BECAUSE GOD WAS NO LONGER SPECIAL TO THEM

• Celebrities want to be SPECIAL TO EVERYONE! That is, they seek fame however they can get it, because they want to be SPECIAL IN THE SIGHT OF EVERYONE!

• Many children play sports and do all kinds of things because they want to be special in the sight of their parents.

• Most of us adults are content with being special in the sight of a husband or a wife.

But God always wanted to be special in the sight of every one of us. He has always wanted to be so special, that every day we would recognize that without Him in our life, our life would be empty. How it must break His heart that lost men will live their lives as if He did not even exist!

Illus: A Christian man took several weeks to help an elderly lady. He spent over five hundred dollars of his own money, and many nights he went home so tired he could hardly drive his truck home. He gave her his time, talent and his money, and a few weeks later she got mad at him and accused him of not caring for her and her family. He said, “How can you say that?” She said, “Oh you mean because you helped me a few weeks ago?” She said, “That’s nothing!” Needless to say, after doing all that he did, to have her consider it to be nothing, broke his heart.