Tuesday, August 24, 2021

GODLY MOTHERS, THEIR INFLUENCE, AND THE WELFARE OF NATIONS

 


 

The faithful Prophet Samuel was used by God to rescue his people from their Philistine masters and to secure a lasting peace for decades, until the reversal under King Saul, who Samuel confronted at the risk of his life:
 
However, Samuel should not receive all the praise. He had a godly mother, Hannah. The Book of First Samuel starts with this woman of God. Hannah had a distressing problem. She was barren. Not only had she failed her husband, Elkanah, but he also had a second wife who persistently ridiculed Hannah. Besides this humiliation, the culture judged that since “the Lord had closed her womb,” this was a sign of His displeasure with Hannah.
 
Every year, the family would go to the tabernacle at Shiloh to make offerings and pray. However, Hannah wept and could not even eat:
 
·       She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life...” (1 Samuel 1:10-11)
 
Hannah was so desperate that she vowed to surrender her son to the Lord once she had finished weaning him. Her prayers were so emotional that the Priest Eli had accused her of being drunk. Instead of retaliating against this unwarranted insult:
 
·       Hannah answered, “No, my Lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” (1 Samuel 1:15-16)
 
After this, they returned home:
 
·       And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel…(1 Samuel 1:19-20)
 
Hannah did not forget her vow. After she had weaned Samuel, they returned to the Priest Eli, and Hannah reminded him:
 
·       “Oh, my Lord! As you live, my Lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:26-28)
 
Despite her great sacrifice, her heart was filled with praise for God and gratitude:
 
·       And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:1-2)
 
Gratitude germinates from within the soil of suffering. Hannah was a faithful woman of God who fulfilled her vow, a vow which eventually resulted, through Samuel, in the rescue of the nation of Israel from their Philistine enslavers.
 
Her faithfulness is often overlooked. Hannah had impacted history, no less than Ruth and Esther, as a chosen tool of our Lord’s mercy to His people Israel. “Hannah” means “mercy” in the Hebrew language. Perhaps prophetically, she had been named “Hannah” as a promise of the coming mercy of God. She too had committed her firstborn to the service of the Lord, and this sacrifice resulted in the salvation of Israel.
 
Nevertheless, Hannah is a woman largely forgotten by history. She is mentioned only once more in the Bible:
 
·       Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord. (1 Samuel 2:21)
 
This is a lesson for us – Never despair of your faithfulness to the Lord because you cannot see the results:
 
Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:3–6)
 

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