March 15, 2010 - From Hurting To Giving

Meditation on 1 Samuel 1

The problem of Hannah was that she was married to a man with two wives. Since she had no child, she was constantly irritated by the other woman. One can tell that her heart was hurting most of the time at home. Her only relieve was to cry before the Lord.

As Hannah worshiped and prayed before the Lord at the temple, she vowed that she would give her child to serve God all of the child's life if she would have a son. After her long prayer and the blessing from Eli, the High Priest, her sadness was gone. She trusted in the Lord. What a lesson she was for us concerning prayer! (v. 18)

God had answered her prayer indeed. She bore a son named Samuel. After Samuel was weaned, Hannah and her husband took him to the temple and offered him to serve the Lord there all his life. Samuel had later become a great prophet, teacher and Judge of the nation of Israel. He led the nation back to God and prepared it to be a great kingdom by anointing David as king.

Hannah's giving resulted in tremendous blessings for her country and people. It all began with her prayer in a time of hurting.