The first chapter (plus a few verses in chapter two) talks about how Samuel came to be.
His father, Elkanah had two wives. One had children (Peninnah), the other--Hannah--didn't. Every year when they took their sacrifices to the Lord, Peninnah (I'ma call her Penny) would mock Hannah for not having children. Hannah was distraught over this. And who wouldn't be? If you're the wife your husband loves most but you can't even bear him children AND it's rubbed in your face year after year....um yeah. Reasons for being heart-wrenchingly down-trodden. And all her husband could say as comfort was that she had no reason for her tears because she had him. Sometimes men, just don't understand the pain a woman can feel about not being able to have children. It tears into our very core because we're made to take care of people. I don't think I can really do the feeling justice.
Hannah was in so much despair, that one year after being mocked by Penny, she went to the Tabernacle and prayed for a son. She promised that she would give this son back to the Lord to be His servant for all his life.
First of all. I don't think I could make that kind of promise. If I've been mocked about not being able to have children, I think my prayer would be, "Lord please give me a child!" The end.
This is the first place we see Hannah's faith in and love for the Lord. The thing she wants most, she's begging the Lord for and in her despair, she doesn't even make plans to keep what she's asking for. It's like the simple fact of giving birth will be enough.
Okay. So she's at the Tabernacle praying and the priest Eli is watching her. Her lips are moving but she's not actually talking. Yeah. It's that kind of anguish. When you're so hurt and weighed down by the pain that physical action comes into play but there's SO much emotion that you can't actually talk. Never felt that? Thank the Lord.
The kicker? Eli...the priest...thinks she's drunk! He doesn't even suspect that she's praying and caught in the thralls of emotion. He dismisses her as a drunk and tries to shoo her away. He actually chastises her for it.
Excuse me Mr. Priest. I know that those who have imbibed wine or anything stronger can't enter the Tabernacle because it is a holy place and you're trying to maintain that. But you're a priest. You can't tell the difference between a drunk and someone wrought with despair? Have none of your congregation come to the doors of the Tabernacle anguishing before the Lord before?
But Hannah, bless her heart, wasn't insulted like I would have been. No. She simply denied the false accusation and told the priest that she was praying. Point two for Hannah. Showing the love of the Lord by not going on the defensive.
Hannah wins out in the end though. The Lord remembers her prayer the next time she and Elkanah make the sex and she get pregnant. And she remembers her promise to the Lord. As soon as Samuel is weaned, she travels with the family to the Tabernacle to return the child to the Lord.
She doesn't just forget him. The Scripture says she brings him a new coat each year when the family comes down. She loves her son. But she obviously loves the Lord more because she held up her end of the deal.
The Lord saw her faithfulness because He blessed her with five more children (if I read that right).
Second point: Could I do that? Could I turn my child, the son I'd been longing for for years, over to the Lord before I even got to know him? I don't know. I like to think I'd be able to do so.
That leads me to this: What is my Samuel? What have I fervently prayed for, making a promise to the Lord? What did I promise to show my gratitude for the answered prayer? Did I do what I said I would?
I want to be a woman of faith like Hannah. There are a lot of things I could give to the Lord because I know that I can't take it with me. But my child? (Don't have any yet, but Lord willing.) That's something made from me and that I carried for nine months. I want to get to the point in my faith that if it's asked of me, I can honestly pray, "Lord, just let me give birth and nurse this child. Then he's Yours." Or whatever it may be that I'm desiring. A simple, "Please let me hold this for a few days," or, "Allow me to touch this just once" and then have the faith in God to know that He will turn it for good once I let go.
She didn't even ask for more children. At least not in what the Scripture tells us.
She asked for a son that she could give back to the Lord. That's it.
Do we ask the Lord for things expecting more blessings than the answered prayer? Or is it enough that He hears our cries and answers us?
