GIVE FULLY TO GOD

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, "After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always."

"Do what seems best to you," Elkanah her husband told her. "Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." And he worshiped the Lord there.

1 Samuel 1:21-28

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What if God asked you to give Him your most valued possession? Would you obey Him? And before you answer that too quickly, think about how you would respond if it were your only child? Think about how difficult that would be.

Well, at the end of Chapter 1, we see a situation that is sort of like that. The only difference is that Hannah, who had prayed from her heart and poured her soul out to the Lord asking for a son, was now faced with keeping her end of the bargain after God allowed her to conceive and give birth to a son who she named Samuel. You’ll remember that she had promised to give her to the Lord for “all the days of his life” (1Samuel 1:11).

So as Elkanah “went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow”, we read where “Hannah did not go” saying to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always." (the time of weaning was set at three years) And in response to Hannah’s proclamation, Elkanah replied, “Do what seems best to you…Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word." And so Hannah did wean Samuel until the time came for her to dedicate him to the Lord as she promised.

At that time…the time “after he was weaned”, Hannah “took the boy with her…along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh”. There the bull was sacrificed and then Hannah went to Eli the priest and presented him Samuel saying, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." And we’re told that “he worshiped the Lord there”.

In Hannah, we see an incredible display of courage, obedience and sacrifice. Having spent three close years with Samuel, she now gave him to the Lord “for his whole life” with Eli serving as his guardian. All she had invested in mothering was now in the hands of someone else. I can’t imagine the void this must have left in her life but this didn’t deter her from staying true to her word.

Her actions reminded me of another like situation in the Bible…where an only Son was sacrificed literally. Indeed, this Son, Jesus, was given by God to die for us all…a sacrificial, unblemished Lamb who was slain to bear the sins of all mankind. God sent Jesus to die so we might live…He gave it all up for us…and so shouldn’t we be willing to give it all up for Him. To do any less would be falling short of the mark.

Friends, in Hannah, we find qualities of sacrifice and loyalty toward an obligation to God. My prayer is that we all exercise the same level of deep obedience when He calls on us…giving fully to God whatever He asks for. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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