Living in the Spirit

November 8, 2021

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 1:4-20

On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year after year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?

Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.’ Then Eli answered, ‘Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.’ And she said, ‘Let your servant find favor in your sight.’ Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

 They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked him of the Lord.‘ –1 Samuel 1:4 -8, 16-20

The Bible is a record of the history of God mingled with particular cultures in specific times. It is a story still being written in our culture and our time. In Hannah’s time, women were most likely perceived only as incubators to hatch the seed planted by a male. Not being able to perform that function was the cause of great shame for a woman. This reality, coupled with the burning desire to be a mother no matter what the culture dictated, left Hannah in great distress. She laid her anguish before God. When Priest Eli heard her plight, he assured her that God would grant her petition to have a child. The Prophet Samuel was the answer to that prayer.

We, too, pray in the angst of culture created by other gods of our world trying to dictate divide and conquer measures of worth.  We humans seem to be drawn to the need to judge human value by identifying traits and statuses that create hierarchies of some people being better than others. We need more people of God looking deeper into people’s pain, enabling all to recognize that all are created in God’s very image. Samuel grew up to become such a witness.

Prayer: Lord, help us look deeper into “The ways we have always done things” and sift out the wheat from the chaff.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.