Title: Hannah's vow prayer
Hannah's vow prayer
Text/ 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21
1. Introduction
1 Samuel 1-2 is the story of Hannah and consists of 5 parts. (1) Hannah’s agony and prayer of vows (1 Samuel 1:1-11), (2) God’s answer (1 Samuel 1:19-20), (3) Hannah who did not change her vows (1 Samuel 1:21-28), (4) Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1-10), (5) God who gave greater blessings (1 Samuel 2:21), etc. Today, I would like to share my grace while meditating on the story of Hannah.
2. What sounds best to you?
Three scholars sat down and talked about what the best sound in the world is. A scholar, lying on a wide rock deep in the mountains, listens to the sound of flowing water and wind. Two scholars, Hwi Young-chung, on a bright moonlit night, sitting and listening to the sound of a geography Three scholars, the sound of children's laughter coming through the wall when the sun from the east shines through the cracks in the door. Jangwon was the third scholar. The laughter of children contains the inheritance of life, there is hope for the future, and there are unspeakable mysteries.
But there is a woman who has never had that precious life, hope, and mystery. The woman's husband was kind in many ways, but the woman was always depressed. That woman was Hannah. When Hannah cried out to the Lord in her affliction, she heard her cry and cried out to God, who had great mercy (Nehemiah 9:27). In 1 Samuel 1:10-11, it is said that Hannah was very distressed, so she wept before God and made a vow.
Hannah said that if she gave her a son, she would make a Nazarite for the rest of her life and give it to God. In a way, Hannah's prayer for vows can be said to be a bloody scream of a woman like a frostbite who wants to confirm that I can conceive too.
God heard Hannah's cries and prayers and opened her womb to conceive a son. That son is Samuel. God is not sitting in a distant void. God is the living God who stands in the middle of our lives and hears our cries and prayers. Is there anyone who is very sad and suffering right now? Come to God now, weep and pray. Just as He heard and answered Hannah's cries and prayers, He hears and answers our cries and prayers, because our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
3. Samuel is the son of Hannah.
Tigers give birth to tiger cubs. There are no cowardly soldiers under the commander. Augustine is Monica's son. Yi Yulgok is the son of Shin Saimdang. Wanggol comes from the Wanggol field. Samuel is Hannah's son. What does it mean?
As the Western proverb says, “There are no atheists in the trenches of the battlefield,” everyone calls out to God in a hurry. “Oh, God, if you save me just this time...” he vowed and cried. However, after many people have been revived by God's grace, they say, "It was a coincidence", "The heart is willing, but the body is weak...", "Too err is human, to forgive divine..." Therefore, the psalmist said that those who can dwell in the tabernacle of God are <Ps 15:4 who do not change the vows made in their hearts, even though they are harmful.>
Hannah was different. As she vowed, she completely dedicated Samuel to God. Hannah must have lamented why I had made such a vow whenever she saw Samuel growing up just having fun. Or maybe he was tempted to forget the vow itself. Hannah resolutely resists all these temptations. See the text. “I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted what I asked for and prayed for. Therefore I also present him to the LORD, and all his days I give him to the LORD. 1 Samuel 1:27-28> It was from such a mother that a great person like Samuel was able to emerge.
4. God who sees the heart.
God did not need Isaac to be sacrificed, but wanted to see the heart of Abraham. God is not such a wretched person who takes Samuel back to death with a burst of anger if Hannah did not keep the vow he had made. He sends sunshine and rain on the good and on the evil, and He is long-suffering and generous.
Hannah offered Samuel according to her vows. God saw the heart of Hannah. Hannah's precious faith and gratitude were received with pleasure. God blessed Hannah with her hands on her head and gave her three sons and two daughters. Faith is not give and take. Faith is not a transaction between man and God. If Hannah had sacrificed Samuel with the thought that if I dedicated Samuel, she would be blessed more. Hannah would not have received any blessings at all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Because that mind is not the center. Faith is not that if I do this, God will bless me in one way or another. It is not a calculated heart that anticipates the future, but a whole, whole, and complete dedication to God as it is.
Weekly <Fountain of the Word>