This chapter details the the events leading up to the birth of Samuel.
“There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah… He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. [Hannah] was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, ‘O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.’ And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked for him from the Lord.’ ” (v1-2,10-11,20 abr)
Elkanah and his wife Hannah are devoted followers of God. They observe all of the Mosaic laws, sacrifice and worship regularly, and even travel to the designated synagogue to do so. Hannah is distressed that she is barren, and makes a vow to God that if He gave her a son he would become a Nazirite – dedicated to God’s service from birth (see Num 6:1-21 for details on the Nazirite vow).
The Lord graciously grants Hannah’s request for a son, and she keeps her vow, bringing the freshly-weaned child (approximately 3 years old) to the temple for God’s service. Then it says that they worshiped together. Worshiping God when you give your only child away must be hard, yet Hannah does this voluntarily.
How are you at keeping your commitments? I know I’ve backed out of a few (or a lot) over the years. Can you imagine waiting “year by year” (v3,7) for a child, and when you are finally blessed with one, you give him away to be raised in the temple. I can’t imagine how hard that would be.
My encouragement today is to follow through on any difficult commitments we have made between us and God. Here’s the real challenge – as we fulfill those commitments, do so with a joyful heart that worships and praises God. It may seem impossible at first, yet it is integral to deepening our relationship with God, and preventing any bitterness from forming in our hearts. If we obey begrudgingly, we will eventually create a rift between us and God, which will not result in future joyful obedience.
Hannah and Elkanah didn’t just decide to joyfully worship God the day they gave up Samuel – it took years of developing trust and faith in God to build up to that point. If joyfully fulfilling a difficult commitment is out of reach for us right now, fear not, God will gently work us up to bigger things if we remain faithful in the smaller things.
Father God, our Sovereign Lord and King, great and mighty is Your name. Father You are generous and gracious beyond compare. Your love for us is larger than the universe. We praise You for answers to prayer, especially those prayers that will require us to grow in our walk with You. Thank you for providing opportunities to build our faith and trust in You. Thank you for helping us step by step each and every day. Would we be encouraged to obey You more and more. We praise Your holy name, for You alone are worthy of our praise. All honor, glory and thanksgiving be to You, forever and ever, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training