WORTH MORE THAN TEN SONS

I never understood the drama that goes on during the first day of boarding school when some students and parents get emotional about parting with each other but since my brother started high school, I've been worrying😭. And I've been wondering, "How did Hannah do it?"

Sending the boy alone to start life in some new environment with no familiar faces is a lot.

From 1st Samuel 1, we hear the story of a woman whose only wish was to conceive a son. She was one of the two wives of Elkanah suffering taunts from her rival for being childless. Hannah wept and pleaded with God for a son and promised to "give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut"- 1 Samuel 1:11

In the culture of the day, motherhood was an important if not the most important aspect of a woman's life. Naturally, women were expected to get married and produce children, to exhibit anything different was considered an anomaly.

This created a void in Hannah's heart that even the preferential love of her husband could not fill.

"Hannah, why are you crying? " her husband, Elkanah would ask. "Why won't you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than ten sons?" - 1 Samuel 1:8

 Guess who Hannah's childlessness was attributed to?

...because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving - 1 Sam 1:6b

Finally, after years of waiting, God did. The house of Elkanah had cause to laugh again.

She made a promise. I know

If sis backtracked on her promise to God, I promise you, I'll understand her.

But Hannah is a better person than I am. She wasn't bluffing when she promised to give her son away.

It's hard for me to understand. How can you be so desperate for something and then when it finally happens, you give that thing away? What happened to Hannah? How did she do it, how could she give up her only son with no guarantee of giving birth to another?

She named the boy Samuel which means "requested of the Lord"(1 Sam 1:20). So you mean you cried out to the Lord for this baby and when he was born the wisest thing you could do was to send him away.

Makes no sense!

 In her triumphant prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, not a single mention of her son is made. Every line of the prayer is in praise of God. I guess there's something Hannah found out that we do not know. The transformation from an anguished woman to a joyful one is clear for all to see.

Something profound must have happened to Hannah for her to have the strength to give her only son—her only desire—away just like that.

HANNAH IS NOT DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THE GOSPEL DEMANDS FROM ALL OF US. NOTHING WE HAVE AND NOTHING WE GAIN TRULY BELONGS TO US- JACKIE HILL PERRY

It is as if Hannah realized that the Giver is greater than the gift. If God is gracious enough to give her a son, He's more than deserving of the said son.

If God gave him to her, where else should he be raised than in the house of the Lord? Elkanah believed that he was worth more than ten sons but God is worth more than a million sons. Anything in comparison to Him is valueless.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.- James 1:17

When God is silent when He takes us through detours and delays, may we remember that Christ is enough. Nothing God gives us is greater than the gift of Himself.

When God blesses us with good gifts, may these blessings not become curses because we have started using them as yardsticks to measure our worth. May we not forget the Giver and start idolizing the gift. And if sacrifice and self-denial are God's ways of getting us to focus on Him, then may we always be found at the altar, our gifts and desires as the burnt offering.

At the end of my life, I want to have a testimony like Hannah's.

"Nothing and nobody in this world caught her attention like the Lord. Whatever she got, she freely gave as a sacrifice unto the Lord. Her greatest treasure was God and God alone."