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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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<\/em> goals and aspirations for their<\/em> life. It requires releasing them completely to God and then watching them grow up to become whatever God<\/em> wants them to be. What if it\u2019s to be a missionary to some far off place in the world? What if it\u2019s a son becoming something other than what the parent always thought the son should be?<\/p>\n English pastor, Charles Spurgeon, wrote to his son, who asked his father’s permission to go into the diplomatic corps:<\/p>\n 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\u2019s foundation, but preaching Christ\u2019s gospel in regions yet far beyond?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 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.<\/p>\n “LORD, help us to give everything to You again this day. You are LORD and we are not.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Samuel 1 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name\u00a0was<\/em>Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And he had two wives; the name of the one\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the\u00a0LORD,\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>there. 4<\/sup>\u00a0And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had shut up her womb.\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had shut up her womb.\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the\u00a0LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.\u00a0\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved?\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>not I better to thee than ten sons? 9<\/sup>\u00a0 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\u00a0LORD.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And she\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the\u00a0LORD, and wept sore.\u00a0\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And she vowed a vow, and said, O\u00a0LORD\u00a0of 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.\u00a0\u00a012<\/sup>And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the\u00a0LORD, that Eli marked her mouth.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am\u00a0<\/em>a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the\u00a0LORD.\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.\u00a0\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant\u00a0thee\u00a0<\/em>thy petition that thou hast asked of him.\u00a018<\/sup> 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\u00a0sad\u00a0<\/em>. 19<\/sup>\u00a0And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the\u00a0LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the\u00a0LORD remembered her.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel,\u00a0saying\u00a0<\/em>, Because I have asked him of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband,\u00a0I will not go up\u00a0<\/em>until the child be weaned, and\u00a0then\u00a0<\/em>I will bring him, that he may appear before the\u00a0LORD, and there abide for ever.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the\u00a0LORD\u00a0establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. 24<\/sup> 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0in Shiloh: and the child\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>young.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And she said, Oh my lord,\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>thy soul liveth, my lord, I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the\u00a0LORD.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0For this child I prayed; and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath given me my petition which I asked of him:\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore also I have lent him to the\u00a0LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the\u00a0LORD. And he worshipped the\u00a0LORD\u00a0there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u2019s other wife had children and taunted her each year when they went to Shiloh to worship the Lord. Hannah finally made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6414"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16114,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6414\/revisions\/16114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n