{"id":32634,"date":"2024-09-27T22:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-28T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-1_1-18-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-08-09T13:05:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T20:05:51","slug":"1-samuel-1_19-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-1_19-28\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blessing That Comes From Keeping Your Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Samuel 1:19-28 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

I’ve got some powerful lessons to share with you from 1 Samuel 1:19-28.<\/p>\n

1\u00a0Samuel\u00a01:19-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him\u00a0Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”<\/p>\n

On verses 19-20: \u00a0The Lord honours Hannah’s prayer for a son.\u00a0 Hannah names him “Samuel”, which means \u201cthe name [of God] is El\u201d, a name which speaks to God\u2019s power. Hannah picked a name for her son that would remind herself and others that Samuel was the result of God\u2019s power at work.<\/p>\n

1\u00a0Samuel\u00a01:21-24 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow,
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>“Do what seems best to you,” Elkanah her husband told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 21-24: \u00a0Here we see that both Hannah and Elkanah had exemplary character in that they were both committed to keeping the vows they had made to God.\u00a0 Hannah was committed to offering their baby\u00a0Samuel\u00a0for lifelong service to the Lord, even though he was her only child.\u00a0 Practically speaking, for Hannah this meant doing the approximately 10 mile trip from her home in Ramah to Shiloh with her baby, a bull, flour and wine to offer at the house of God.\u00a0 Elkanah technically had the right to cancel the vow that Hannah made (see Numbers 30:10-15), but Elkhanah respected Hannah’s decision and assumed his wife’s vow as if it was his own, going with her to fulfill her vow.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Keep your word and make good on your promises.\u00a0 Don\u2019t just give God worship that is easy and convenient.\u00a0 Give God intentional worship.\u00a0 As David would later say, \u201cI will not offer to God that which costs me nothing.\u201d\u00a0 More than anything God focuses on the heart with which we worship Him.<\/p>\n

1\u00a0Samuel\u00a01:25-27 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli,
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>and she said to him, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 25-27: \u00a0 I am touched, sometimes to tears, thinking about Hannah’s love for her son\u00a0Samuel\u00a0and for God.\u00a0 It amazes me that Hannah was willing to surrender her only child to God, even after so many years of wanting to have a child but not being able to, being ridiculed for not having a child of her own and finally receiving one herself after praying to God for him.<\/p>\n

The fact that Hannah was willing to relinquish control of her son to God shows that Hannah’s identity was not wrapped up so much in having her son physically nearby.\u00a0 Rather, Hannah’s confidence and hope were in God, who gave her a son in the first place.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly Hannah loved her son\u00a0Samuel\u00a0so much.\u00a0 The Bible says that each time she would go visit him, she would bring him a little robe that she made herself just for him (see 2:19).\u00a0 It must have been an incredibly difficult and emotional decision for Hannah to follow through with her vow.\u00a0 But she did so willingly.\u00a0 God would bless her with three more sons and two daughters after she gave\u00a0Samuel\u00a0over to the Lord (2:21).<\/p>\n

Hannah giving her only son\u00a0Samuel\u00a0to the house of God points us forward to the day that God would one day give His only Son for the world and for His church.<\/p>\n

1\u00a0Samuel\u00a01:28 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 28: \u00a0Hannah gave her precious son to God for God’s purposes.\u00a0 The short-term and long-term impact of her sacrifice can hardly be overestimated:<\/p>\n

– In the short-term, because of Hannah\u2019s sacrifice, Eli the priest worshiped (v28).\u00a0 Why did this matter to Eli?\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s because Eli knew that his own sons were corrupt priests, so the offering of young Samuel gave Eli hope about the future of God\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

– In the long-term, the whole nation of Israel would be blessed by\u00a0Samuel’s leadership as he became one of its greatest priests, prophets and leaders;<\/p>\n

– Hannah\u2019s story and example continue to inspire us to this day.<\/p>\n

As great as Hannah’s sacrifice was, the benefit and impact of her sacrifice was even greater.\u00a0 What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 When you give what you love the most to God, He uses your sacrifice in ways far beyond what you could imagine, both in the short term and the long term.\u00a0 The greatest sacrifices are always fueled by the greatest kind of love and they result in the greatest kind of impact.<\/p>\n

2. Parents, do not just pray that your child would be happy, healthy and well provided for.\u00a0 Pray that God would use your child greatly for His purposes.\u00a0 The Lord has a destiny for your child!\u00a0 Raise your child up to be a man or woman who loves God, serves Him and is used by Him to lead others to Him.\u00a0 May your child grow up to be an AEIOU leader — alive, expectant, involved, out loud and united.<\/p>\n

Father, because Hannah gave her only son\u00a0Samuel, and because You gave Your only Son Jesus, we are blessed today.\u00a0 Thank You for Your amazing love which fueled such amazing sacrifices and brought so much good as a result.\u00a0 Help me to surrender what I love the most to You and trust that You will use that sacrifice far beyond all I could ask for or imagine.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

\u00a0I’ve got some powerful lessons to share with you from 1 Samuel 1:19-28.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

1\u00a0Samuel\u00a01:19-20 (NIV)
\n19\u00a0Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
\n20\u00a0So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him\u00a0Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 19-20: \u00a0The Lord honours Hannah’s prayer for a son.\u00a0 Hannah names him “Samuel”, which means \u201cthe name [of God] is El\u201d, a name which speaks to God\u2019s power. Hannah picked a name for her son that would remind herself and others that Samuel was the result of God\u2019s power at work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32634"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32637,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32634\/revisions\/32637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}