May 7- The Cry of A Godly Woman

May 7, 2011

Scripture Readings:
I Samuel 1:1-2:21; John 5:1-23;
Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 14:28-29

Pray, and let God worry. 
~Martin Luther

I Samuel 1:1-2:21

With the advent of home pregnancy tests, women have a blessing and a curse.  If you are one to easily get pregnant and you want a child, you can rejoice in the privacy of your home very soon after conceiving your child.  If you are having a hard time conceiving a child, pregnancy tests can become your worst nightmare and a vehicle for pain and suffering.  Have you ever wanted something so bad that you were absolutely miserable?  People who are waiting to get pregnant often feel this way.  One of the hardest situations in the human condition is infertility. 

Not being able to have a baby can consume a woman.  I have known many women in this position.  I can relate to this as it took me three years to get pregnant with my first born son.  During that time, I cried out to God.  I remember the day that my home pregnancy test finally showed a positive result. I was filled with thanksgiving to God. I know that not all women get the "yes" from God on having a child, but todays reading is about a godly woman who cries out to God to give her a child and receives a "yes" from the Lord.

We are still in the times of the Judges in Israel, but congratulations to all of my fellow Bible readers, because you have finished another book of the Bible!  We are done with the book of Ruth and are now starting the book of I Samuel.  Samuel is the last judge in Israel. Today we read the story of his birth.

His mother's name was Hannah and Hannah has two problems.  First, her husband is married to another woman named Peninnah, besides Hannah, who Hannah despises.  Second, Hannah is unable to have children, but Peninnah is very fertile.  Although Hannah is the favored wife, this is not enough to make Hannah happy. 

The situation is at a boiling point by the time the family goes to Shiloh for the yearly sacrifice.  Peninnah has been taunting Hannah about being unable to have children.  Hannah is in tears and fed up with her miserable state.  Hannah cries out to God, begging Him for a son and promising to dedicate the boy to the Lord if He will answer her prayer.  Eli, the High Priest, is witnessing this.  He believes that Hannah is drunk and rebukes her for coming to worship drunk.  You can imagine how fervent her prayer must have been.  She prayed like a crazy woman, even though it was a silent prayer!  Have you ever prayed like a crazy person before God?  Have you ever wanted something that badly?

Hannah explains her situation to Eli. Eli prophetically prays for her and encourages her spirit.  Hannah goes home knowing in her heart that God is going to answer her prayer.  When she gets home and lays with her husband, the Lord remembers her prayer and Hannah becomes pregnant with a son.  She names him Samuel, which means "heard of God."  Hannah raises Samuel until he is weaned, which could have been three to four years old. After this time, she takes him to live with Eli, the High Priest, at the house of the Lord in Shiloh.  When she goes to Eli to dedicate Samuel to the Lord she says the following, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me my request.  So now, I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."  The Bible tells us that he (Samuel) worshiped the Lord there.  Even as a young child, he has a heart for God.

Hannah then prays a beautiful prayer to God.  Can you imagine dropping off your young son who you prayed so fervently to receive?  What humility, obedience, and sacrifice this reflects.  Hannah is an extremely godly woman who endured suffering and is willing to suffer again.  Her prayer focuses on God's greatness, His sovereignty and His might, not her own needs.  It is the first prayer in Scripture to predict the Messiah (Anointed One).  Hannah's prayer has a similar tone to Mary's prayer upon her conception.  Hannah is a model for all women and all people who want to please God through humility, obedience, and prayer.

The story now focuses on Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas.  In the next section of our reading, they are stealing sacrificed meat for their own use.  Hophni and Phinehas are proud, disobedient, and self-serving louts.  But not Samuel, he is running around in the linen robes that his mother has made for him and serving the Lord with zeal.  What a contrast.

Are you serving the Lord with zeal?  Do you pray fervently through your problems?  Are you willing to suffer?

John 5:1-23

Today Jesus heals a man who has been laying by a pool of water that supposedly heals people.  He has been crippled for 38 years, but hasn't been able to get into the water for healing.  Jesus heals him and later seeing him at the Temple, reminds him to stop sinning or something worse may happen to him.  Jesus knows this man's heart and knows why he was crippled.  Jesus is trying to prevent this man from being crippled spiritually by sin.  This healing occurred on the Sabbath.

When the Pharisees find out that Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, they are furious.  Jesus replies that His Father never stops working, so why should he.  This incenses the Pharisees because a son is equal to his father, therefore, Jesus is saying that He is God.  Jesus clarifies for them several key aspects of His relationship with God the Father:

• The Son does nothing by himself.
• He does what he sees the Father doing.
• He imitates his Father.
• The Father loves the Son and tells him everything that He is doing.
• The Son is going to do greater things than healing people on the Sabbath.
• The Son will raise people from the dead (anyone that he wants to raise).
• The Father is going to leave the job of judging everyone to the Son.
• Everyone is going to honor the Son like they honor the Father.
• If you don't honor the Son, you are not honoring the Father.

This would have been a new and radical teaching for these Pharisees.

Psalm 105:37-45

This psalm recounts God's great deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt.

Proverbs 14:28-29

Controlling your anger prevents mistakes.

What did you see today?  Do you like the story of Hannah?  Why?

Blessings,

Jubilee Gal
Kathy Fullerton
© 2011