Recently, Gary Hargrave brought a Word on the woman’s ministry, and he was talking about the importance of different mothers in the bible and the prophecy to Eve in Genesis 3.
Another mother in the Bible who is really important to me is Hannah, the mother of Samuel the prophet. Her husband had two wives, but unlike the other wife, Hannah had no children. Because of that she used to be provoked by Peninnah, the second wife.
Hannah cried out to the Lord for a child, greatly distressed. She wept bitterly and made a vow to the Lord that if He would give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord all the days of his life.
The Lord answered her petition and after she weaned the boy she brought him to the temple to live. Every year she would come back to see him and to bring him an ephod, a priestly garment.
There are different aspects of what Hannah did that are really important. Samuel was the last and the greatest of the judges (The Bible Guide), he was a priest and a prophet. As a young boy, God revealed to him the corruption in the priesthood, and he ended that corruption. He anointed the first two kings of Israel, and as a prophet he fought idolatry and witchcraft.
In all areas of life Samuel was part of the end of one dispensation and the beginning of a new day, he also initiated the schools of the prophets: “All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, because the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. ” (1 Samuel 3:20–21, NASB95)
But all of these things started with the faith of his mother Hannah. This is really an amazing story of the power of a mother’s love and faith and commitment to the Lord. In I Samuel 2:21 we read that after Samuel, Hannah had more children. By her faith she not only got what she was looking for in having a son, she was part of creating a new day for an entire nation!
Posted in Pastor's Blog