1 Samuel 1:11: “Then she made a vow and said, ‘O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.'”

May 10th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The Book of Samuel marks the end of the period of the judges and the beginning of the time of the kings. Hannah was a barren woman who desperately wanted a child. Her husband’s other wife had children and taunted her each year when they went to Shiloh to worship the Lord. Hannah finally made a vow to the Lord that if He would give her a son, she would give the son back to the Lord. No doubt this was the reason God had delayed in answering her prayer. There is nothing like trials and storms to drive us closer to the Lord. Since God responded to Hannah’s vow, this must have been the very thing He was moving and drawing her toward. The waiting made her desperate, but it also helped her to grow in trust.

Every godly parent, at some time or another, must confront the question: “Will I trust God with my child’s life?” This is not a question of life or death; that’s relatively easy since we have no power over it anyway. No, this is dealing with something much harder than losing or keeping a child and watching them grow. This question is about a willingness to die to your goals and aspirations for their life. It requires releasing them completely to God and then watching them grow up to become whatever God wants them to be. What if it’s to be a missionary to some far off place in the world? What if it’s a son becoming something other than what the parent always thought the son should be?

English pastor, Charles Spurgeon, wrote to his son, who asked his father’s permission to go into the diplomatic corps:

I should not like you, if meant by the gifts of God [to] be a great missionary, to die a millionaire. I should not like it, were you fitted to be a missionary, that you should drivel down to a king; for what are all your kings; what are all your nobles . . . all your diadems . . . when you put them all together, compared with the dignity of winning souls for Christ, with the special honour of building for Christ, not on another man’s foundation, but preaching Christ’s gospel in regions yet far beyond?

Hannah pledged to give the Lord her son in return for God’s favor in giving her that son. She faithfully did so, and it impacted the future history of the entire nation of Israel.

“LORD, help us to give everything to You again this day. You are LORD and we are not.”

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1 Samuel 1 KJV

¹ Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name wasElkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: ² And 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. ³ And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there. ⁴ And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: ⁵ But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb.  ⁶ And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.  ⁷ And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.  ⁸ Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons? ⁹  So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD. ¹⁰ And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.  ¹¹ And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.  ¹²And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth. ¹³ Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. ¹⁴ And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. ¹⁵ And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.  ¹⁶ Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.  ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. ¹⁸ And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad . ¹⁹ And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. ²⁰ Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying , Because I have asked him of the LORD.   ²¹ And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. ²² But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever. ²³ And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the LORD establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. ²⁴ And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young. ²⁵ And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. ²⁶ And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. ²⁷ For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: ²⁸ Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.