HANNAH A GODLY MOTHER
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
1 SAMUEL 1:1-28
Key Verse
“Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord”.
1 Samuel 1:20
INTRODUCTION.
A mother is indispensable to our having a good life. She is the one who carried us in her womb and so she has the important role of life-giving and from that role comes the role of nourishing and protecting, enabling her children to grow up and survive.
But this role has not been as highly regarded as it should and oftentimes a mother has to live through much pain, insecurity, anxiety, and all other kinds of suffering. All of that came from the fact that sin entered the world because of the actions of the first father and mother that did not believe the words of God and disobeyed Him. After that act of disobedience everything went downhill and in spite the many and varied attempts to correct the situation nothing worked.
That was the bad situation in the nation of Israel after they entered the land of Canaan and started a life of disobedience to God’s words. A lot of messy situations and lifestyles that harmed the people occurred. When God solved the problems everything quieted down for a while but then the evil behaviour started over.
Our Lesson from 1 Samuel tells us about the painful situation a woman named Hannah then found herself in. It was most important that women have children for that allowed the family to prosper in their farming and other commercial activities. When a woman could not have children everybody looked down on her, accusing her of doing something that made God punish her by not allowing her to have children. That was not always the true reason for not having children. But the pain and suffering for women in that predicament was immense. Though a woman’s husband would love her no matter what he did he could not ease her pain and the attacks on her.
Hannah bore all the heartache at her not having children to play this important role in the family. What made it worse for her was that her husband, though he loved her, married another woman and so he had two wives. The second wife began to have several children and she mocked and teased Hannah. When the family went up to the Temple in Shiloh to worship God Hannah could not enjoy herself for the pain and heartache continued even there. But Hannah knew that God could solve her problem and so she prayed in a powerful way and promised God that if He allowed her to have a child she would have the child serve God all his life in the Temple rather than staying at home with her.
The High Priest at the temple at Shiloh was named Eli. He saw Hannah praying silently, without speaking a word, and he thought she was drunk. But she corrected this High Priest and told him she was not drunk but had prayed like that because of her deep sorrow. So Eli changed his mind and blessed her, asking God to grant her wish.
Hannah was happy at this blessing and she began to enjoy the Feast at the Temple and went home a happy woman for she knew God would answer her prayer to have a child.
And that was what happened. She went home and she and her husband had a child. She fulfilled her promise to God and brought up the child named Samuel for a few years and then took him to the Temple to work as the High Priest Eli’s assistant. God had planned it all. Samuel grew up to be the prophet of God and he saved the nation of Israel from the disaster they had put themselves in. He anointed the first King of Israel named Saul, and then after that he anointed the second King, King David.
We learn from this that God is our Helper and our problem solver. He has all power and He shows His love for us every day. His compassion for us never fails. His mercy continues and every morning God’s compassion and mercy renews itself and starts all over again. So we can trust God. We must develop the habit of praying to Him and honestly telling Him what we desire and the problems we have. He will take care of us. His love will never fail. Hannah learned that and emphasizes to us of God’s goodness and His kindness to all of us.