1 Samuel 1:27-28, “For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.”
🔴 Receive to Give
You made a promise to the Lord. You prayed to ask Him to bless you and that if He allowed it, you would give back to Him. 1 Samuel 1:11 KJV
DO WHAT????
Isn’t the whole idea of praying for something and then receiving it to keep it??? Why would anyone return a blessing? What kind of craziness is that? Or is it…Psalm 100:3 KJV We do not belong to ourselves. Nope, we do not. We belong to God, and anything He allows us to have is a blessing from Him.
Picking up at 1 Samuel 1:11, Hannah made a vow to the Lord. She promised God that if He took away her sorrow by giving her a son, she would dedicate that child to Him. God answered her prayer, and she had a son.
The Result:
The end of chapter one is nothing short of amazing. What love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control Hannah displayed. She owned her grief by giving it over to the Lord. She knew He answered her prayer when she gave birth to Samuel, and she was obedient to her vow of dedicating Samuel to God.
How many of us could be given such an incredible blessing and then allow God to take over?
We say we trust God, and we want our material things from Him, but when it comes to children, why is that so hard?
Isn’t being obedient and serving God part of our bigger purpose?
Although Hannah’s timing was off, she felt pressured to give her husband a son. The void of not being able to birth a child along with the constant taunting of Peninnah, may have been the push she needed to pray so sincerely at Shiloh.
Is it time to take our aspirations and ask God if they align with His? Perhaps what is getting under our skin and causing us heartache is the pressure we need to realign with our given purpose.
This devotional was written by Torrie Slaughter founder of Our Given Purpose®. Edited by Torrie Slaughter in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
© Torrie Slaughter, LLC; Torrie Slaughter Photography, and Our Given Purpose®
Great devotional. We are blessed so that we can be a blessing. I enjoyed the sharing. Thank you. Love agape, Mom