Samuel
1 Samuel 1:10-12, 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).