Let us now look at Hannah, for the Holy Ghost brings her out the most prominent. We see her at Shiloh, provoked by her adversary, because of her barrenness. She lays all before the Lord at Shiloh. There she weeps in the bitterness of her soul. It may be, my reader, you are barren and unfruitful in the things of the Lord. Have you ever wept in bitterness over this? She wept sore; Have we? She asked at Shiloh for a man child, and she asked for this for Shiloh. Eli, the aged priest, knew nothing of all this; he saw, but did not understand; he thought she was drunken. Yes, there may be two parties at Shiloh, and they do not understand each other. Eli sits on a post, and Hannah weeps sore. But the request of the weeper is granted. She had poured out her soul at Shiloh before the Lord, and He had heard, and answered. Jesus says to His feeble, weeping Hannahs, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you” (John 16:2323And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. (John 16:23)).
He for whom she had asked was born. “She bare a son, and called his name Samuel [asked of God], saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.”
Men delight in what is great and showy; not so the Lord. He says, “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” Is this because thou art become great and strong, and hast done many mighty things? No; “for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name.” Is not this what the Lord approves in these very last days? Philadelphia (Rev. 3:88I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. (Revelation 3:8)) is the answer.
In our lovely picture of the true Philadelphian, there are four things. Samuel is a little child. Jesus tells us there is no way of entrance but “as a little child” (Luke 18:1717Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. (Luke 18:17)).
The second thing is, Samuel is weaned before he is brought to Shiloh. What sorrow in the assembly caused by persons being brought in before they are weaned from the world! There was more weaning forty years ago.
The third thing was, Samuel was dedicated through death, the death of a bullock.
And the fourth mark of this true Philadelphian, was that he was a worshipper at Shiloh; “and he worshipped the Lord there.”
No doubt two parties, the approved and the disapproved, may both be at Shiloh; that is, both take the ground of their meeting, to be gathered to the Lord. How am I to know which is right? Here are four things to guide me: little, weaned, dedicated, and a worshipper. Do these marks answer to the state of our souls, or rather, does our state answer to these marks? Are we really little in our own eyes? If not, we are not the children of Hannah, grace and mercy. Are we weaned from the world? Are we really dedicated by the death of Christ, of which the bullock was a type? Think of being crucified with Him. And lastly, Are we true worshippers in spirit and in truth? Do we delight in God, joy in God? What is the love of God to you? Is it so shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost given unto you, that in return you adore Him in holy peace? Oh, that these marks did more abound wherever souls are gathered to Him, whose right alone it is, the blessed Shiloh, and in that only place of peace and tranquility of soul.
(Continued and to be Continued)