Samuel
1 Samuel 1:10-12, 18-2810And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. 11And 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. (1 Samuel 1:10‑12)
18And 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. 19And 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. 20Wherefore 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. 21And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 22But 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. 23And 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. 24And 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. 25And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. 26And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. 27For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: 28Therefore 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. (1 Samuel 1:18‑28).
Part 1
One admires the reality and purpose of heart of this dear woman, Hannah, in this chapter. We find her in bitterness of soul in the 10th verse: “She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.”
There is much of that in this world. We do not have to be very old, nor be very long in this world to find out more or less bitterness of soul and weeping. It is a matter of common comment that a child comes into this world, not with a laugh, but with a cry. That is typical of this world since sin is here. Many things that start out very fine and promising, turn out to be bitterness of soul in the end.
This may sound like a rather somber subject upon which to address young people, but I suppose I am speaking not only to those who know and have confessed the Lord, but to those who in some measure have already experienced the truth of what I am telling you.
Hannah knew where to take the burden, she knew where to go and unload what was pressing upon her soul. That is a grand thing to find out, isn’t it? I often think of that in connection with those who know the Lord. Have you ever (you who are believers) stopped to think what it would mean if you didn’t know the Lord Jesus, and knew nothing about prayer; if you knew nothing about the privilege of getting down on your knees and weeping out your burden in the ear of Christ.
It is hard for you to realize what it would mean to have a heart heavy with grief and sorrow and have no outlet for it: to have no one to whom to go and unload that great burden! Well, friends, that is where the unsaved are. So they try all sorts of means to forget their sorrows; they speak of drowning their sorrows, but they do not get rid of them.
Here was a woman who had a deep burden on her soul; she went to the right place with that burden, and told it out in the ear of the One who was willing to hear, and to bear, and to deliver. Unlike some of us, she didn’t go away from that little prayer meeting still carrying her burden. She didn’t go back home a sad and burdened woman, still sighing deeply underneath the load. No! she went back a woman vastly relieved, and enjoying the sense in her soul that she had been heard. See how it reads;
“So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad” (vs. 18).
That is the reality of “casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you.” That is prayer in its reality; actually, truly, unloading the burden, and going away with the consolations of Christ.
We have that same privilege, and what a privilege it is! That is one of those rare things that pertain to us as God’s children. That is one of the things that marks us off from the world. The world has no such privilege; it has nowhere to get rid of its burden. We have; we have the privilege of coming into God’s presence and telling all to Him, and then going away with the consciousness that He has heard, and in His own time and way will give the answer. Hannah went away light-hearted and glad because she had the confidence that God had heard.
Now that she has her request (vs. 20), what use is she going to make of it? She has asked the Lord for something; He has given it to her. What is she going to do with it? Isn’t that a question that ought to come home to everyone of us who profess the name of the Lord? Perhaps we have made requests, perhaps we have had desires and laid them before Him, and He has in some measure granted us these desires. We have our requests, and now what use are we going to make of the answer? Well, this dear woman when she gets this son, says,
“I am not going to keep him for my own selfish enjoyment; I am going to present him to the Lord. The Lord has been good and gracious to me, and now I want to give back of what He has given me.”
Sometimes young people seem to congratulate themselves upon the possession of various endowments they feel they have; various advantages of one kind and another. Some may feel they come from good families; some may feel they are in homes where there is wealth; some may feel they have attained superior standards of education, or perhaps endowed with superior mental capacity; there are various things we may congratulate ourselves on having. Some may find themselves vested with superior business ability. The question is, if God has given you them, what use are you making of them? This woman says,
“I am not going to keep dear Samuel all for myself, but I am going to take him to the Lord, and I want him to be lent to the Lord all his days.”
That was a grand sacrifice. That was better than those three bullocks and the ephah of flour and the bottle of wine they took with them on their journey to Shiloh. She took the dearest object of her heart, and dedicated that son to the Lord.
(To be continued).