Monday, August 2, 2021
Hannah, mother of Old Testament Samuel, prays for a male child.
I Samuel 1:11 [Hannah prayed] “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life . . .” (NASB)
Ever longed for something heart and soul? Old Testament Hannah yearned for motherhood, and yet God said no. It doesn’t take much to imagine Hannah prayed often for God to change her situation. It may have been that God was waiting for a change in Hannah’s heart?? Hannah was willing to forego the joys of raising a son to adulthood, for the sheer joy of bringing a child into the world and caring for him as a baby.
God granted her prayer and of course the rest is history: Hannah’s boy-child would be the great judge, prophet, and counselor Samuel. But the story doesn’t end there, Scripture records that God later gave Hannah more children . . . three more sons and two daughters! You cannot out-give God!!