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Prayers of a Godly Woman Answered, January 23
For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I
asked of Him.
1 Samuel 1:27
, NKJV.
Elkanah, a Levite of Mount Ephraim, was a man of wealth and influence, and
one who loved and feared the Lord. His wife, Hannah, was a woman of fervent
piety. Gentle and unassuming, her character was marked with deep earnestness and
a lofty faith.
The blessing so earnestly sought by every Hebrew was denied this godly pair;
their home was not gladdened by the voice of childhood; and the desire to perpetuate
his name led the husband—as it had led many others—to contract a second marriage.
But this step, prompted by a lack of faith in God, did not bring happiness. Sons
and daughters were added to the household; but the joy and beauty of God’s sacred
institution had been marred and the peace of the family was broken. Peninnah,
the new wife, was jealous and narrow-minded, and she bore herself with pride and
insolence. To Hannah, hope seemed crushed and life a weary burden; yet she met
the trial with uncomplaining meekness....
The burden which she could share with no earthly friend she cast upon God.
Earnestly she pleaded that He would take away her reproach and grant her the
precious gift of a son to nurture and train for Him. And she made a solemn vow
that if her request were granted, she would dedicate her child to God, even from its
birth....
Hannah’s prayer was granted; she received the gift for which she had so earnestly
entreated. As she looked upon the child, she called him Samuel—“asked of God.”
As soon as the little one was old enough to be separated from his mother, she
fulfilled her vow.... From Shiloh, Hannah quietly returned to her home at Ramah,
leaving the child Samuel to be trained for service in the house of God, under the
instruction of the high priest. From the earliest dawn of intellect she had taught her
son to love and reverence God and to regard himself as the Lord’s. By every familiar
object surrounding him she had sought to lead his thoughts up to the Creator. When
separated from her child, the faithful mother’s solicitude did not cease. Every day he
was the subject of her prayers.... She did not ask for her son worldly greatness, but
she earnestly pleaded that he might attain that greatness which Heaven values—that
he might honor God and bless his fellow human beings.—
Patriarchs and Prophets,
569-572
.
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