HANNAH, A GODLY EXAMPLE OF MOTHERHOOD
Hannah was barren. At her family’s annual visit to the Tabernacle at Shiloh to worship and bring offerings, she was so stricken with grief that she could only mouth the words to her prayers. Her lips moved, but no sound came forth. She cried out from her heart that the Lord would give her a son. She promised to give him back to the Lord all the days of his life, if only she might bear a son.
Finally, the Lord gave her a son and she named him, Samuel, which means “asked of the Lord.” Her grief was turned to joy! When the boy was weaned, she did as she promised and gave him to the Lord, leaving Samuel with Eli the priest. And Samuel served the Lord there.
What can we say about Hannah? Isn’t she perhaps the most prominent woman of faith in the whole Bible other than Mary, the mother of Jesus? For she asked the Lord for a son, knowing that children are a gift from the Lord. And she raised her son unto the Lord, knowing that she would give him back to the Lord for his whole life.
Isn’t that the job of godly parenting? To recognize that children are a gift from the Lord and to raise them up with the goal of giving them back to the Lord?
With Mother’s Day coming this Sunday, it’s good to remember the story of Hannah. For she is a godly example of motherhood.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we thank You for our mothers. For we see in them a glimpse of Your great sacrificial love and care for us. As we honor them, we honor You even more, for both mothers and fathers were Your idea and created by Your design. As we read of Hannah and Samuel, we can’t help but see the foreshadowing of Mary and Jesus. For the first points to the fulfillment in the last. And Jesus is the One that we look to and worship as Lord and Savior. For it’s in His name we pray, amen.