So it went on year by year....”
1 Samuel 1:7
Like many women, Elkanah’s wife had a dream. Arms full of wriggly flesh, the sound of a high pitched wordless plea in the early morning hours. Hannah longed to be a mother. Yet it was seemingly not meant to be. To add to her daily sorrow was Peninnah, Elkanah’s abundantly fruitful, second wife. Like salt in an open wound, Peninnah delighted in taunting Hannah even as they made their way to Shiloh to worship the LORD. “So it went on year by year....”
At some point, Hannah came to the end of it all. The prayers she had prayed for so long shifted and took a more desperate tone:
“She 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......” (1 Sam. 1:10-11)
Like Hannah, so many of us have hopeful petitions we set before God year after year. For some of us, it’s a child to hold or a spouse to walk through life with. For others, it’s the salvation of a precious soul or some sign of fruit from years of toiling in what seems to be a dry and lifeless endeavor we felt sure was given by Him in the first place.
Yet Hannah’s desire was fulfilled only after it was given up, not just as a request but as an offering. What she longed for, she let go, laid out on an altar of surrender and presented to God for Him to do as he saw fit. He honored her sacrifice and her personal plea became a part of his much larger purpose and plan.
“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.’” (1 Sam. 1:20)
Samuel became more than just the delight of his mother's heart. He grew to become God's man for the time, a prophet and intercessor for Israel who would also be on hand to anoint and counsel her first kings.
His mother kept her vow and presented her beloved son back to the One who had granted her request.
"For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD."
(1 Sam. 1:27-28)
That day, Hannah may have walked away empty handed but not empty hearted. A deeper, more vibrant faith now bloomed there. One that knew, that the things we place in HIS hands are made more perfect, more beautiful, and more glorious than anything we could ever envision. (Eph. 3:20)
"My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD."
1 Samuel 2:1
