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. – 1 Samuel 1:28

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 23, 2012): 1 Samuel 1

We are conditionally emotional. Our happiness or sadness – or whatever the emotion of the day is – entirely because of the situations that we encounter. And that has been so pervasive in our society that we do not even realize that that is not the way that it has to be. I have to admit that the return of the Great Depression is a nightmare scenario for me. Now, I think we learned the lesson that 1929 held for us, and if that is true the Great Depression may never occur in the way that it did at that end of the 1920’s, but the sky high unemployment rate, the loss of savings and investments, drastic uncertainty for the future and the presence of rampant poverty is still a scary picture for me. And I know my own reaction during the tough economic times that I have experienced – I know my own reaction to that kind of monetary pressure – and so I cannot imagine how I might react in the face of that kind of an economic downturn. And yet I also know that in the midst of the horrible poverty, were some people that were filled with great joy. And I know that it is not just during the depression, but all through history there have been two reactions to poverty. Some have become bitter and depressed because of their outward situation but others have experienced great joy in the same situation. And that is sometimes almost beyond our own comprehension.

Elkanah and Hannah had been unable to have children. And this brought them no amount of concern. It was beyond just the fact that their name would disappear from the annals of Israel, but in this day children were the safety net. If something happened to the health of mom and dad, it was the children that would take over the tasks and allow the household to run. But with no children, the same situation would cause the house would fall into ruin.

And that is what makes this story so unusual. Hannah becomes pregnant and gives birth to the child that she and her husband wanted and needed. And Hannah rejoices in the gift that God had given to her (situational emotion) and turns and gives the child back to God. And she rejoices and worships her God in what is basically the loss of her child. Samuel would never grow up and be the safety net that his parents needed. And yet she worshiped God in this act, and that somehow does not make sense to our modern ears.

Hannah sacrificed, and part of the reason that she could do that and rejoice was that because God had given her Samuel, she was convinced that God was still in control. And her sacrifice would remove her and Elkanah’s much needed safety net from their lives, but would give Israel the safety net that the nation needed. Samuel would be the last of the prophets, and the man that would change Israel by giving the nation their first two kings. And all because of the sacrifice of one man and one woman, who had simply prayed to God for a child.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 2