The Promise Keeper She made a vow to the Lord and kept it, a very good lesson for us today. We must not let our mouth lie when we make a promise. Hannah, of the Old Testament heritage, wanted just one thing, that she might give birth to a son! If her request was granted, she promised to lend him to the Lord for as long as he lived. In the ancient culture in which she lived, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to be unable to give her husband a child, especially a male child. Hannah had suffered the stigma of scorn, ridicule, and humiliation because of her barren womb. Each year, every good Jew made the long tiring trip to the main center of worship, The Tabernacle at Shiloh. This was before the magnificent Temple at Jerusalem was erected. Each family went to worship and make sacrifices for their people. In those days, God was known to them as Jehovah, Yahweh. Today, we are grateful to know Him as Father. Jesus made that revelation possible. On this particular trip, Hannah knelt at the altar, broken in spirit, crying, mumbling in a non-intelligible language. Only God could understand her petition, her emotional state. Eli, the Priest, stood near, focusing on her behavior. He judged her to be a drunken woman of Belial (Satan). He said, “Put away thy wine from thee.” But Hannah responded by saying, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul to the Lord.” The Eli said, “Go in peace and the God of Israel grant thy request.” God gave Hannah her desire. She bore a son and named him Samuel. It was the custom of that day for a child to be weaned at the age of three. It was then that Hannah took the tiny, trusting hand of her little child and made the arduous trek to the Tabernacle to present Samuel to the Eli, the Priest. She explained, “For this child I prayed. God heard my prayer and I have kept my promise. He shall serve God all his life.” Samuel became a Prophet, Judge, and Priest of Israel. He also, in his maturing years was privileged to anoint Saul and David as Kings of the United Kingdom. Among his dedicated services for the Lord, was the establishment of a school for the young prophets. He also authorized the Books of the Bible, which bear his name, I & II Samuel. He apparently wrote them during the reign of Saul and David. He died “full of years” and highly revered for his labors to God’s work. Ministers today who seek for a current subject for their Mother’s Day sermon, often reach back into the files of antiquity and pull out a page from the book of Samuel, chapter one, to share the lovely story of a woman named Hannah, a woman of stellar faith! She is remembered for her great desire to become a mother, her sacrifice and faithfulness to her promise and she is an inspiration to us all. Does God expect us to keep our promises? Indeed He does! Is it always easy? No, not at all! Psalms 15:4 reminds us, “He (godly person) always does what he promises, no matter how much it may cost”! (Good News Bible) I Samuel 14, 15, 17 Maxine Tolbert Trigleth |