1 Samuel 1:1-5 - There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of
Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called
Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year
after year this man went up from his town to worship
and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and
Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to
sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife
Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.
God’s faithful servant Elkanah took his large family to
Shiloh to worship regularly…taking his two wives he had acquired with him to
offer sacrifices to the Lord. The two women were quite different…Peninnah…bold
and overconfident …badgered sweet Hannah about the wonderful children she had borne
to Elkanah. While Elkanah tried to
console Hannah with as much love as he was able to show….even giving her double
portions from the sacrifice meals. He even tried to convince her that he was
better for her than 10 sons could ever be.
It must have been hard on both of them….Elkanah must have seen
the taunting of Peninnah day after day….year after year. He must have had his own ideas about why God
had closed Hannah’s womb. Hannah endured
teasing and arrogant boasting from Peninnah…accepting her plight in quiet
humility….probably thinking God must surely be punishing her for something bad she
had done. It got to the point that one day Hannah went to the temple to
pray. She bitterly wept to the Lord…and
prayed with her whole heart…moving her mouth…but only allowing God to hear the
cry of her heart for a child …making a vow to him that she would give him back
to God…if he would only answer her prayer.
It is a common thing…for those of us who know the Lord...to
wait till our human souls just can’t take it anymore to ask him for help. We endure and wait and try to make it on our
own….trying to hang on to the faith God has built in us from the day he saved
us. Then in desperation we cry out to him…and make vows that we will do this or
that if he will just answer this one cry for help. We try to cling to the promise that God has
led us through this horrible thing for a reason…but our humanness breaks at
some point…and we break down…really break down…until we are totally broken.
That’s when God does his best work. He allows life to beat us down…show us that
we have absolutely no power to control the world around us…then he rides in on
his white horse and saves us from ourselves…and builds in us a great servant…if
we let him. Hannah is a model of what
can happen when we relinquish the control of our lives to God. He will take our barrenness…and create in us
a servant like Samuel…full of the spirit of God….anointed by the high priest
himself to do great things for the ones around us.
Hannah was luckier than some…she only waited another year
for an answer to her prayer. God blessed
her with a son…and she kept her promise to dedicate him to the Lord for his
entire life around three years of age.
How hard it must have been for her to leave the temple that day…knowing
that she would only see him when she traveled back to worship God. Oh how she must have looked forward to those
visits each year.
Some of us are asked
to wait more than a year…maybe because we just haven’t learned how to empty
ourselves completely of the junk God knows is not a part of his plan for
us. Hannah’s example of total sacrifice
is hard to achieve…especially in today’s world…where material possessions can
be easily justified as good for us…and where most people around us tell us that
more is better than less….or that all the things we have are just blessing God
showers upon us. Satan has carefully
placed a multitude of Peninnah’s as close to us as he is allowed by God….and he
does not fail to use them at every opportunity to convince us that we are
justified in keeping everything WE think WE need to have a happy and fulfilled
life…he convinces us that the small tithe we give…or the short Sunday worship
service we attend…or the few verses we manage to read from his word…or the
quick prayers we utter at night or daybreak are enough to prove to God we love
him more than we love our lives here on Earth.
Father...I thank you for the reminder this morning that I
must continually pray to you to remove the world from my soul. I ask you to help me watch carefully for
Satan’s cunning temptations to remain in the world more than I seek and worship
you. Thank you for Hannah…and this story
of her great sacrifice of love to God…that allowed God to give us the great
prophet Samuel. Help me to learn to pray
like Hannah…with my heart open and my mouth closed...so only you can hear my
cries of help and desperation. Amen.
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